Treasure Hunters: A National Treasure Fanfiction
by FantasyandHistory
Summary: Hello fellow National Treasure fans! I have completely fallen in love with these movies and felt inspired to write a story based on them: this is the same story line, just with a new character: Alexandra Gates, Ben's younger sister. Also for all my fellow Riley fans out there, there will be some romance in here for him! I hope you enjoy! I do not own National Treasure.
1. Prologue

Hello and welcome to my National Treasure story! :) I recently fell in love with these movies (I don't know how I didn't discover them sooner, for I LOVE history!) and have read some really great fanfictions and got inspired to write my own! I do not own National Treasure - I only own Alex Gates, the character I created for this story. Thanks and I hope you enjoy!

Prologue

Grandpa slept soundly in his armchair before the fire this stormy night. Ben crept out of the room and down the hall to the staircase leading up to the attic. With Grandpa asleep now was the time.

Taking a flashlight with him he started slowly up the staircase, trying to walk as quietly as possible.

Ben jumped when he heard a creak on the stairs behind him and threw a panicked look over his shoulder. It wasn't Grandpa though. It was Alex.

"Bennnnn!" she cried accusingly, her voice a high-pitched whisper. "You're not supposed to go up there! You know that! Grandpa said we're not allowed up here."

"I just want to see," Ben said.

"But Grandpa said-"

" _I know_ what Grandpa said," Ben interrupted. "But I'm still going to look. Now shh, or you'll wake him."

His sister looked as though she was about to protest again, but instead walked up the stairs to join him. "Fine. But I'm coming too."

"You're too young," Ben protested.

"Am _not_! You'd better let me come or I'll tell Grandpa!"

"Fine," Ben sighed.

With that the siblings crept up to the attic. When Ben pushed open the door it made a loud creak. Both winced. A flash of lightning lit the cluttered space for a moment before all was dark again. Ben turned on his flashlight.

"Do you think there's ghosts up here?" whispered Alex.

"I don't think so," answered Ben. He stepped into the centre of the room, the floorboards creaking eerily beneath his feet. It was dusty up here; Alex kept sneezing. Ben stepped up on a stool and retrieved a large book. He was bringing it down so they could both see but when he turned around he gasped, startled by a sudden tall figure behind them. Alex too jumped.

"Grandpa!" Ben cried.

Their grandfather eyed them. "You're not supposed to be up here."

"Told you," said Alex.

Ben shot her a look before turning back to Grandpa. "We just wanted to see," he said.

A smile crept up their grandfather's lips at their obvious interest. "Very well. I would have preferred to wait until you were older but-" He pulled over a chair and sat down, Alex climbing up to sit on his lap like she always did for his stories. Ben stood before them, both he and Alex waiting expectantly for Grandpa to begin.

Alex was a little confused by all the names and places in the story, but she thought she got most of it: there was a treasure, a very old treasure, older than Mom and Dad, older than Grandpa even, and it was hidden somewhere. She caught 'knights' and 'America' many times throughout the story. She also caught how exciting it all sounded. She loved her Grandpa's stories, and this one might just be her favourite.

"Grandpa, who's Mason?" she asked.

"Not Mason, Freemasons," Ben corrected. "They're the one's who hid the treasure."

"Yes, and among them were some of our Founding Fathers," added Grandpa.

"Our father?!"

"No, the Founding Fathers," Ben corrected yet again, sounding annoyed. "See I told you you were too young."

"Am not!" Alex defended herself.

"Stop interrupting."

Alex stuck her tongue out at her brother before turning back to her grandfather. "Where's it hidden Grandpa?" she asked. "The treasure."

He chuckled. "Even I don't know that. But clues were left for us to try and find it. Like the message from my story: ' _The Secret Lies With Charlotte'_."

"'Charlotte', that's a pretty name,' said Alex.

"And that'll lead to another clue, which will lead to another, and another, and another." They were interrupted then by the presence of Ben and Alex's father, Patrick. "There is no treasure."

"Now Patrick," began Grandpa, but Dad interrupted him again.

"All I've learned is that our ancestors were fools. Proud to be a Gates," he scoffed. "Ben, Alex, come on, we're leaving. Time to say goodbye now." He gestured for his children to follow him and headed back down the stairs.

Once he was gone, Grandpa sighed. "Your father doesn't believe the stories. He thinks they're silly, made-up."

"Well _I_ believe them!" Alex said firmly, hopping down from his lap.

"Me too," agreed Ben. " _I'm_ proud to be a Gates."

"Me too!" said Alex. "Are _you_ Grandpa?"

He smiled down at them. "Yes, I am."

"Grandpa," Ben said. "Are we knights?"

Grandpa chuckled. "Do you want to be?" Both children nodded.

Ben turned to his sister. "But you're a girl, girl's aren't knights."

"We can be!" she cried, punching him in the arm.

"Yes, you can be the first Lady Knight of our family," Grandpa said, smiling down at his granddaughter. She smiled proudly. "Alright, kneel." The two did so. "Benjamin Franklin Gates, Alexandra Mary Gates, do you swear to take on the duty of the Gates family?"

"We so swear!"

Grandpa smiled. "Then I name you Sir Benjamin and Lady Alexandra Gates, Knights."

 _"We so swear…"_

 **Initial thoughts? Hope you enjoyed! I'm really excited about this story :) And, as I said, I'm still new to these films, so sorry if my facts aren't quite the same as in the movies! Thanks so much for reading!**


	2. The Send-off

Hello and welcome back! :) I'm super excited to share this next chapter with you guys - enjoy!

Chapter One

The Send-off

Washington D.C.

 _"We so swear…"_

Many years had passed. However, their promise to Grandpa was still just as strong.

Keeping true to their word, Ben and Alex had spent the years since then – around school, college, and jobs – searching for the treasure. They were still after the same clue 'The Secret Lies With Charlotte'.

However, the search might be near its end, for Ben had tracked its whereabouts to the Arctic and was currently readying himself and his team to go out and look for it. That morning they were flying out to the site.

"I wish I could come!" whined Alex. She had always come on hunts with her brother but this time she had to put her job first. "What do you think they'd do if, in the middle of our biggest project, I just up and left to help my brother on a treasure hunt? You think I'd get fired?" she joked.

"Maybe just a little," Ben laughed.

"Just a little, just a little bit fired." She laughed too. "But I mean it is a trip for historical purposes, and I work at a history museum…"

Ben had a couple of calls to make regarding the trip so when there came a knock at the apartment door Alex answered it. It was Ian.

"Alex." He smiled. "Decided last-minute to join us?"

"Trust me, if it were up to me I would, but sadly it's not. But I am giving you guys a ride to the airport.'

"Ah, well thank you. And you will be missed." She opened the door further to allow him to step inside the apartment. As he did their shoulders brushed, and not by mistake.

Ever since she had met him Ian had been very flirtatious, something he seemed to reserve just for her. It amused Ben to an extent, though he still played the part of the cautious older brother, and it annoyed Riley. She was quite sure she had made it clear that she wasn't interested but let's just say he was persistent. The first time they had met she had extended her hand for a handshake and instead of shaking it he had scooped it up and kissed it. Alright she would admit that Ian was a gentleman, and charming, but there was something about him… Perhaps it had been his quick acceptance of the reality of the treasure and clues, too quick, that which everyone else had dismissed. But maybe it was just that, that everyone else dismissed it so Ian's acceptance was a great surprise.

"Morning Ian," Ben said, hanging up the phone. Then he looked at his watch. "Is Riley still asleep?" he asked his sister.

"Yep, out cold. This is too early for him. Here, I'll go wake him up." Alex headed down the hall to the spare bedroom and knocked softly on the door. When there came no response from within she slowly opened the door. Her eyes were met by pitch darkness, signalling that Riley was indeed still asleep. She tiptoed over to the bed and leaped onto the blanket-covered lump that was Riley.

"Rise and shine sunshine!" she said in a sing-song voice. She received a groan in response. To this she laughed and ruffled Riley's hair. "Come on Riles, time to get up. You have a plane to catch. I have a big mug of coffee with lots of cream and sugar waiting for you in the kitchen," she coaxed, only to receive another groan. She got up and headed for the door. "Don't make me send Ben in here." Riley just groaned again and pulled the blanket over his head. She smirked. "Or Ian."

A split second later the blanket flew off and Riley practically leapt out of bed. "Okay! I'm up!"

She laughed and left him to change, closing the door behind her.

"He up?" asked Ben when she re-entered the kitchen.

"Yup. I threatened to send either of you in to get him and that did the trick." Both men chuckled.

Once everyone was all ready to go they headed down to the front of the apartment building where two cars awaited. In one rode Ian's crew, and the other, Alex's car, rode her, Ben, Riley and Ian.

Riley went around to the passenger's side, opening the door, about to get in, only to find Ian already seated there. He gave Riley a smile that said, 'sorry, already taken.' Riley only scowled and went around to the back of the car. Of course Ian would steal the seat next to Alex.

"Move over," Riley said to Ben when he reached the back seat. Ben did so, sliding over so that Riley could have the seat behind Alex. However, this only meant that Riley could see her and Ian laughing and joking the whole way to the airport, playfully arguing over music choices and the air conditioning. He felt himself glaring when Ian would make her laugh. Ben sat next to him, grinning at his friend's not-so-subtle jealousy.

They finally made it to the airport, and as soon as Alex parked Riley was out of the car. Alex walked with them inside where they said their goodbyes. First was Ben. She gave him a long hug. "Have fun Big Brother. Good luck."

"Thanks Little Sis." He hugged her back.

"Don't forget to take lots of pictures."

"We definitely will," promised Ian, coming over for his goodbye. "Thanks Love." He gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She pulled away slightly awkwardly, smiling awkwardly as well. She was glad when last, but not least, she turned to Riley. "See you Ri. Have fun, and be careful. Watch out for Ben – you know how reckless he can be."

"Thanks Al, see you soon." They hugged. Then they gathered their luggage and headed for the gate. Alex waved.

"Hey Al," Ben called. He pointed to her. "Proud to be a Gates."

She smiled and pointed back. "Proud to be a Gates."

 _Hope you enjoyed Chapter One! Thanks so much for reading! :) More to come soon!_


	3. Mysterious

Hello, welcome back! :) Hope you enjoy! I do not own 'National Treasure'.

Chapter Two

Mysterious

Alex stood in the centre of a large empty room in the American History museum at the Smithsonian where she worked. Pretty soon this room would hold a new exhibition, which was what she and her colleagues were arranging and organizing the details of. It was a big project and a long process to say the least, and the reason she couldn't go with Ben and the others on the trip, which she was still bitter about. While they were out treasure hunting she was stuck here, with all the stresses and pressing deadlines.

She intently studied the layout in the binder in her hand. "Let me run and grab that other file, I'll be right back," she said to one of her colleges and headed out of the exhibition hall.

"Alex!" She stopped as she rounded the corner at the call of her name. Looking up she found source.

"Ian?" she cried in disbelief. He smiled as she came over. "Hey, how are you?" she asked, giving him a slightly awkward hug, like their parting at the airport had been.

"I'm well thank you, yourself?"

"I'm good thanks. I wasn't expecting you to be back so soon, I thought I'd hear from Ben cause he said he'd let me know when you guys got in." It had been just less than a week since she had seen the group off at the airport.

Something flashed across Ian's face, though so fast Alex thought she may have imagined it, nor could she make it out. "I-I'm sure you'll hear from him soon," he said, his voice softer now.

"So," Alex said, trying to ignore the suspicious feeling now pulling at her concentration. "Tell me about it! Did you find the secret that lies with Charlotte? I'm still so upset that I couldn't come but we're in the middle of opening a new exhibit right now so we're crazy busy."

Now Ian grinned again. "Your presence was thoroughly missed. And yes, we did."

Alex's face lit up even more. "Oh my gosh! Aw I'd love to hear all about it but I'm afraid I'm in the middle of something right now, so it'll have to wait."

"Well I was thinking I could take you for a coffee or something," Ian suggested.

She hesitated. "Alright," she finally agreed. It wasn't a date, she told herself, he was just going to tell her about their trip and the treasure. She glanced at her watch. "I have my break in about half an hour, if you don't mind waiting around for a bit."

He agreed, and they said to meet in the same spot in half an hour. Alex couldn't help but be slightly distracted by Ian's change in expression when she had mentioned Ben – it could be nothing, but it was enough to make her stop at her office on her way to retrieve the file and check her cell phone. No messages. No messages on her office phone either. Taking her cell phone again she dialed Ben's number. It rang a few times and her heart leapt when she thought someone was answering, but it was only going to voice mail.

 _"_ _Hi, this is Ben,"_ came her brother's voice. _"I'm unavailable right now but please leave your name and number and I'll get back to you soon, thanks."_ _Beep_. She didn't leave a message.

Half an hour later Alex met Ian in the same spot. They left the museum and crossed the Smithsonian grounds to a coffee shop across the street. They got coffee and sat on a bench. Ian reached into his inner-jacket pocket and withdrew an envelope. He handed it to her. "Just as you requested."

Alex took it and found photographs inside of the trip. "Oh thank you!" She shuffled through them. She found one of a ship that the group had been digging out of the ice. _Charlotte_ was written across the back of the ship. "'Charlotte'", she said. "Charlotte wasn't a person, she was a ship!"

"Yes." Ian smiled and nodded.

"Clever. Wow, she's beautiful."

"Yes," he agreed. "She was."

Alex continued shuffling through the photos. She saw the whole group dressed in winter clothes, snowmobiles parked behind them. There was Ben, looking very thoughtful as usual. She giggled as she got to one where the photographer had caught Riley in the background, staring off into the distance. Oh Riley. Cutie.

"So," she said, tucking the photos back into the envelope. "Did you find the treasure?"

"No, but another clue."

"Good!" she cried. "I want to be there when you find the treasure."

"And we want you to be there."

She ignored his flirty tone. "What was the clue?" she asked eagerly.

Now Ian's face fell again, this time obviously. "Your brother and I had a disagreement about that, I'm afraid."

"Oh." Okay. A disagreement. What did that mean?

"Yes," Ian continued, almost hesitantly it seemed. "About how to go about retrieving it…" His words trailed off, as if for emphasis, but there was still a lot of information missing. "We know where the next clue is, it's just… Difficult," he finally said. "I wish it were simpler but…" He paused again, this time reaching out and taking her hands in his. Alex was a little startled. What was going on? "Alex, I trust you, and I would like you to help me. As I said to your brother, you should be able to find this treasure and rub the truth of it in everyone's faces who's always told you it wasn't real."

"What is this next clue?" she asked, almost cautiously. "Where is it?" Silence, no answer. "Ian, where's Ben?"

"Like I said, we had a disagreement. We broke apart, he's probably still out there at the site. Don't worry about him."

"He's my brother, of course I worry." She sighed. Ian was obviously trying to tell her without revealing to her some major part.

"What was the clue that you disagreed over?" she asked again, pressing. Ian looked hesitant but seemed to give in as he sighed and reached into his jacket pocket again, this time withdrawing a piece of paper covered in his handwriting. He gave it to her and watched as she scanned it. "A riddle?" He nodded. _'The legend writ, the stain affected, the key in Silence undetected, fifty-five in iron pen, Mr. Matlack can't offend.'_

Ian watched her read the riddle in more detail, her lips moving slightly as she read it over. He could see the immense concentration and determination in her eyes, smiling as he could almost see the gears working in her head.

Her eyes grew wide suddenly and he guessed that she got it. She turned to him. "Ian, you know what this means–"

"Incredible." He smiled at her. "You solved it faster than your brother did."

"Ian," she cried, growing frustrated with his ignoring the fact. "This is huge, this is, this is – _the Declaration of Independence_!" She whisper-hissed the last part. Then the realization settled in, with what the clue meant. "Wow," she breathed.

"I know. Frustrating isn't it, to have come this far only to have this bring us to an abrupt halt. But not for long." He partially mumbled the last part.

Her head whipped around to face him. "Ian, what do you mean–"

"Don't worry," he cut in. "I'm making all the arrangements."

"Ian, this is huge, this is Declaration of Independence huge – literally!" She shook her head in disbelief. "You cannot seriously be considering stealing the Declar-"

"Already past considered. It is what we have to do," he stated firmly. "And I need your help."

"No!" she cried.

"You sound like your brother."

"Well yeah, we're trying to stop you from making a huge mistake. Ian this is a criminal act."

He gave a small nod. "I have had past dealings of questionable legality…"

"Questionable legality," she repeated. "What does that even mean?" That could mean a great deal of things.

"Please Alex," he begged. "I need your help."

"Ian, I'm not going to help you steal the Declaration of Independence. I'm sorry."

There was a tense silence. He glanced down at his watch. "Your break's over now. I'd better let you get back to work." He stood and turned back to her one last time. "You know what has to be done Alex." And with that he was gone.

Alex sat there, stunned. Had that really just happened? She looked back down at the riddle clutched tightly in her hand. It unmistakably led to the Declaration.

She felt overwhelmed, she didn't know what to do. A million thoughts were racing through her head at once. She needed her brother.

 _Sorry Ian, but you should know by now that Alex would never betray her brother, not even for the treasure! Haha thanks so much for reading! :) more to come soon!_


	4. Where Are You?

Hello again! :) Here's another chapter for you! Hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think!

Chapter Three

Where Are You?

Alex couldn't concentrate. Ian was going to steal the Declaration of Independence.

What should she do? Call the police? Should she have made a big scene back when they were together, to try and attract attention? She needed Ben.

"Hi Sweetheart," came her dad's voice over the phone.

"Hi Dad," she answered just as cheerfully. "How are you?"

"Oh good, same old. How about you?"

"Oh, I'm good thanks." She hoped he couldn't hear the stress in her voice and if he could that he wouldn't question it. "I was just wondering if you've heard from Ben at all lately." As expected, there was a pause on the other end of the line before Patrick spoke again. "No, no I have not." His tone had completely changed at the mention of her brother.

After chatting a little more with her Dad, Alex, now even more discouraged, tried her mom. "Alexa darling," came her mother's gentle British accent, some of which Alex herself had managed to pick up over the years.

"Hi Mum. I was just wondering if you've talked to Ben recently."

"You know I haven't heard from Benjamin lately."

Exactly what Alex didn't want to hear. "Okay, thanks, just wondering. I'm sure you'll hear from him soon–" An attempt to reassure herself. "–Thanks Mum, bye."

She hung up and sighed. So Ben hadn't talked to their parents either. Something wasn't right here. And on top of it all, Ian wanted to steal the Declaration of Independence.

She dialed on her cellphone again, this time Riley's number. She got his voicemail as well. _"Hey, Riley here. Thanks for calling, please leave a message–" beep!_

"Hey Riley–" Awkward pause. Yikes, she wasn't even talking to him in person and she was freezing up. If Ben were here he would be laughing and calling her love-struck. Such an older brother. "–It's me, Alex. Call me back as soon as you get this please. Thanks, bye."

No Riley either. She felt a little better knowing that Ben and Riley were most likely still together, but this provided only a little reassurance.

She decided to try Ben one last time. She dialed first Ben's home number, which went to the answering machine, and left a message. Then she tried his cell phone again. She was getting used to the constant ringing on the other end of the line. Again, no answer. " _Hi, this is Ben._ _I'm unavailable right now–"_ She hung up, cutting off her brother's voice. "Damn it Ben, where are you?"

She knew her brother got into risky situations often, so she knew she didn't have to worry, not that it stopped her from doing so. He always had an answer, and he usually got out of such situations – usually.

 _It's pretty short, I know, but I promise the next chapter will be longer! Thanks so much for reading! Bye for now!_


	5. Return

Hello! :) thank you so much for the review! I really appreciate it!

Chapter Four

Return

Still no word from Ben. Or Riley. Alex was getting seriously worried.

What if they were stranded out in the Arctic? Lost? Or worse, stranded, lost, and separated?

Her worries were ceased though when she went to her office for her lunch break – to call them _again_ – only to find–

"Ben! Oh my God–" Alex hurried into her brother's arms, tackling him into a hug.

"Hey Little Sis." He sounded surprisingly calm, or maybe he only seemed so as she was majorly freaking out.

She then turned to Riley, also tackling him into a tight embrace. "Hey Riles." Then she turned to her brother again. "You Benjamin Gates have a lot of explaining to do."

"I know, we have a lot to tell you."

"Yeah I had a visit from Ian yesterday. He said you had a 'disagreement'."

Riley scoffed. "So that's what he calls trapping us in an exploding ship."

"What?!" cried Alex. "Oh my God – well he left that part out. He wanted me to help him."

"Of course he did. Funny, doesn't he know by now that you and Ben are unbreakable," said Riley.

"Well, he's always had a soft spot for you," Ben told his sister.

"Eww." Riley made a face.

"Thanks Riles."

"I meant eww Ian, not eww you."

Alex withdrew the written riddle from Ian. "He also gave me this, the next clue. You know what it points to, right?"

Ben nodded. "Yeah."

"He's going to try and steal it."

"Yeah, we know."

"Ben, how are you acting so calm over this? This is huge!"

"I know." Her brother sighed. He looked exhausted. "We were just on our way to Homeland Security and the FBI to try and warn them, but we thought we'd better stop and check in with you first."

"Yeah, thanks. I only called you about fifty times. Good luck, let me know how it goes."

"We will. We'll come back to meet you after work with an update." And just like that they were gone again.

After that Alex eagerly awaited the end of the day. Now she felt a huge wave of relief in knowing that Ben and Riley were alright.

"So how'd it go?" she asked when they returned and she was packing up for the day. Judging by their expressions she was pretty sure of the answer.

"Not well. Is it really so hard to believe that someone might try and steal the Declaration of Independence?" said Riley.

"The FBI gets countless tips a week Riley, they're not going to worry about something they're sure is safe," said Ben.

Riley sighed in frustration. "But anyone that can do anything is going to think we're crazy. And anyone who's crazy enough to believe us isn't going to want to help. Ian was crazy enough to believe us and I mean look where that got us," he mumbled.

"We don't need someone crazy. One step short of crazy, and what do you get?" said Ben.

"Obsessed." Riley gave a little shrug.

"Passionate," corrected Ben. He gestured for his friend and sister to follow him. "Now come on, I know where to try next."

Thanks so much for reading! Hope you're enjoying! Bye for now!


	6. Doctor Chase

Hello again! Here's another chapter for you - and we get to meet Abi! Yay!

Chapter Five

Doctor Chase

"Doctor Chase can see you now, Mr. Brown," the secretary said.

"Thank you." Ben, Alex, and Riley rose to their feet from where they had been sitting in the waiting room at the National Archives offices.

"Mr. Brown?" repeated Riley with a confused look on his face.

"Yeah, the family name doesn't get a lot of respect in the academic community," Ben explained, Alex nodding in agreement.

"Ah, so you're being kept down by the man-" Riley said as they entered the office. "-A very cute man…"

The person sitting before them was definitely not a man, but a friendly-looking professional young woman. _Dr. Abigail Chase_ was on the nameplate on the edge of her desk.

Doctor Chase was just finishing up with a phone call and help up a finger to them signalling for them to wait. "Thank you," she said in an accented voice and hung up before smiling and facing her guests. "Good afternoon, I'm Abigail Chase." She stood and came around to shake their hands. She shook Ben's first.

"Paul Brown," he lied, giving her the most convincing smile he could muster.

"Nice to meet you."

"Cassandra Brown," Alex said next, following in her brother's footsteps.

"Hello Cassandra." Lastly, Dr. Chase turned to Riley.

"Uh, Bill."

"And nice to meet you, Bill. How can I help you?"

"Your accent," Ben said. "Pennsylvania Dutch?"

"Flirt," Alex whispered to Riley.

"Saxony-German," Doctor Chase corrected.

"You're not American?" Riley blurted, earning a slap on the arm from Alex.

"Oh I am an American, I just wasn't born here," Doctor Chase explained. "Oh please don't touch that!" she cried, noticing Ben admiring a display case on her shelf.

"Sorry, neat collection," said Ben, drawing his outstretched hand away. "George Washington's campaign buttons. You're missing the 1789 inaugural though. I found one once."

"That's very fortunate for you. Now my assistant told me this was an urgent matter."

"Yes ma'am."

"Please, have a seat." Doctor Chase brought over a third chair before her desk before sitting down herself.

"Well I'm going to get straight to the point," Ben said once they were all seated. He paused as if for dramatic effect; all eyes were expectantly on him. "Someone's going to steal the Declaration of Independence."

Silence. Alex hardly dared to look at Doctor Chase' reaction to this. Confusion mixed with shock.

"It's true," Riley piped up, hoping to help. Though as soon as he said it he wished he hadn't.

"I think I'd better put you in touch with the FBI," Doctor Chase finally said, reaching for her phone.

"We've already been to the FBI," Ben said quickly before she could dial.

"And?"

"And they assured us it couldn't possibly be stolen," Riley said mockingly.

"Well they're right."

"Well we're less certain," Ben said. "However, if we were given the privilege of examining the document up close we could tell you for certain whether or not it's in any danger."

 _Well that certainly doesn't sound suspicious_ , thought Alex.

The look on Doctor Chase's face clearly conveyed 'no you may not!' Now she looked confused, though a little curious now as well. She leaned back in her chair, trying to hide a smile at the sheer silliness of all this. "And what do you think you're going to find?"

"We believe," continued Ben, remaining calm and serious. "That there's an…" He searched for a word that wouldn't be a lie but also wouldn't give it all away at the same time.

"Encryption," his sister jumped in.

"An encryption, thank you," Ben said. "An encryption on the back."

"An encryption, like a code?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Of what?"

"Of, uh, a cartograph."

 _Is he trying to impress her with his big vocabulary?_ wondered Alex.

"A map?" concluded Doctor Chase.

"Yes ma'am," Ben repeated.

She gave him a look that told him to elaborate. When he didn't, nor did Riley or Alex, she prompted them by saying, "a map of what?" Surely one of them would answer.

Ben looked extremely defeated. "A map leading to-" A pause. "—Hidden items of historic and intrinsic value."

"A treasure map?" asked Doctor Chase in disbelief. Alex winced.

"That's where we lost the FBI," mumbled Riley.

"You're treasure hunters, aren't you?"

Alex and Riley looked to Ben. "More like treasure protectors."

"Mr. Brown I have personally seen the back of the Declaration and I assure you all that is there is a notation that reads 'Original Declaration of Independence, dated Four of July, 1776." She and Ben spoke the last part together.

"Yes ma'am," he said yet again.

"But no map."

Now the three exchanged a long glance. The longer this went on the more unbelievable it sounded, even to them. Ben let out a long, exasperated sigh, like a deflating balloon, and seeing as her brother had done most of the talking Alex decided to take this one. "It's invisible."

"Oh, right," said Doctor Chase.

"And there's where we lost the Department of Homeland Security," said Riley.

"What led you to assume that there was this invisible map in the first place?" Doctor Chase asked, sounding just a little curious. Curious as to how they had cooked up this whole scheme.

"We found an engraving on the stem of a 200 year old pipe," explained Ben.

"Owned by Freemasons," put in Riley for good measure.

Now she looked thoughtful. "May I see it, the pipe?"

Now Alex and Riley looked to Ben again. Should have seen that coming. "W-we don't have it," admitted Riley.

"Hmm." Doctor Chase nodded, seeming almost understanding. That was before she leaned forward and said, "did Big Foot take it?"

There was a scraping noise as Ben pushed back his chair. "It was nice meeting you," he said quickly, giving her an exaggerated smile. Alex and Riley took that as their cue to stand too.

"Nice to meet you too," Doctor Chase said, a smile on her lips as she watched them leave.

Ben was just about to leave when he turned back to face her. "And you know that really is a nice collection," he said, gesturing to her button display. "It must have taken you a long time to hunt down all that history." On that note, the three left the office of Doctor Abigail Chase, feeling more discouraged than ever.

* * *

"If it's any consolation Ben, you had me convinced," Riley said trying to lighten the mood and the trio made their way down to the Archives' main display area where the item in question was housed.

"It's not," grumbled Ben.

"Hey, no need to get snippy," Alex told her brother, defending her friend who was only trying to help. However, she understood her brother's frustration. They were all feeling the same way at the moment, especially after that disastrous meeting with Dr. Chase. She was probably sitting in her office laughing at them.

"On a more positive note," tried Alex, also in an attempt to lighten the mood. "You met a girl." She nudged her brother. He was always teasing her about her and Riley, so now was her chance to get back at him. "And one who might just be as crazy about history as you. It's a perfect match!"

"I didn't think anyone was as crazy about history as Ben," Riley said.

"You were totally flirting with her," Alex continued.

"Not like it helped us though," Riley reminded her. "I was thinking what if we go public, plaster this all over the internet. Not like we have our reputations to worry about. Although, I don't think that's going to scare Ian away."

They now stood before the Declaration itself. "One-hundred and eighty years of searching and I'm three feet away," sighed Ben. "You know, of all the ideas that became the United States, there's a line here that's at the heart of all the others: _'But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government and provide new guards for their future security'_. People don't talk that way anymore." He sounded disappointed at this, and knowing Ben, he probably was.

"Beautiful," said Alex.

"Yeah, beautiful," said Riley. "I have no idea what you said," he then admitted.

"It means if there's something wrong those with the ability to take action have the responsibility to take action," translated Alex.

"That's right." Ben nodded, eyes on the document. There was a long pause before he said, "I'm going to steal it. I'm going to steal the Declaration of Independence."

 _And there it is, the iconic line! And I love Abi's office, especially the World War II Rosie the Riveter poster on the wall :) I have that poster too!_

 _Thanks for reading! I'm also in the process of writing another National Treasure story (haha I know, I'm a little obsessed!) and it's called 'Chasing Chase'. Please check it out if you're interested! Thanks!_


	7. Listen to Riley

Hello again! Here Riley tries to talk some sense into Ben ;) Enjoy!

Chapter Six

Listen to Riley

"Ben!" A shocked-to-say-the-least Riley and Alex hurried after Ben, chasing him outside the Archives building.

"Wait, hold up, time out," Alex said. "Isn't that exactly what we're trying to prevent Ian from doing?"

"Yes, and if he succeeds he'll destroy the Declaration, so the only way to protect it from him and stop him from stealing it is stealing it ourselves," explained her brother. "It's upside down, see? I don't think there's a choice."

Riley and Alex exchanged a glance.

"This is huge," Riley said. "Like, prison huge. You will go to prison, you know that right?"

"Yeah probably." Ben nodded.

"That would bother most people." When Ben made no reply Riley cried, "for God's sake Ben, it's like stealing a national monument, it's like stealing him!" He gestured to the statue of President Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial. "It can't be done. Not that it _shouldn't_ be done, it _can't_ be done. Here, let me prove it to you."

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" said Alex. Riley nodded.

He and Alex escorted Ben to the Library of Congress and took him to the reading room. Ben sat and waited for a few minutes flipping through various books while his sister and friend scouted out their own books before both bringing over an armful each.

"Okay, Ben, pay attention," instructed Riley. "We've brought you to the Library of Congress. Why? Because it's the biggest library in the wold, over twenty-million books. And they're all saying the same exact thing: listen to Riley." He nodded to Alex who had already opened a book to the desired pages and she passed it to him. "Thank you. Now see here, my friend, we have an entire layout of the Archives, including builders blueprints, construction orders, phone lines, water, and sewage. It's all here! Now, when the Declaration's not on display it's surrounded by guards and video monitors, visiting families, little kids on their eighth grade fieldtrip. And beneath an inch of bulletproof glass is an army of heat sensors that will go off if someone gets too close with a high fever. Now, when it's not on display, it's lowered into a four-foot-thick concrete steel-plated vault that happens to be equipped with an electronic combination lock and biometric access-denial systems." He finished on that note, looking to Ben and looking proud of himself.

"You know," Ben stated casually. "Thomas Edison tried and failed nearly two-thousand times to design a carbonized cotton-thread filament for an incandescent lightbulb. When asked about it he said, 'I didn't fail, I just found two-thousand ways not to make a lightbulb. But I only needed one way to make it work.'" He set the book he had been flipping through before them on the table. Alex peered over Riley's shoulder from where she stood behind him. "The Preservation Room, enjoy. Do you know what the Preservation Room is for?"

"Delicious jams and jellies?" Riley guessed sarcastically.

Ben ignored his sarcasm. "It's where they clean, maintain, and repair all the documents and the storage housings when they're not on display or in the vault. Now, when the case needs work they take it out of the vault and directly across the hall into the Preservation Room. Now the best time for us, or Ian, to steal it would be at the gala taking place this weekend, when the guards are distracted by the VIPs upstairs." He tapped the page title _Preservation Room_ with his finger. "So we'll make our way here to the Preservation Room where there's much less security." On that note, Ben sat back, looking pleased.

Alex and Riley exchanged another glance. Then Riley scoffed. "This might be possible."

Ben nodded. "It might." Then he looked at his sister who had been very quiet this whole time. "Sis?"

Now it was her turn to scoff. "You guys are crazy. Insane. Do you even hear yourselves? This'll never work. We'll never make it without being caught." She had always followed her brother, always trusted him. But this was going too far.

They left the Library, Alex still extremely flustered.

"Remember what we promised Grandpa," Ben reminded her.

"Yeah, but it's not like he meant this. He would have never wanted us to do this."

"You're not thinking of giving up on the hunt are you?"

"No of course not I just–" She wanted the treasure to be real, she wanted it to be so bad, but they had been searching for so long. "It's taken a serious turn now–" She sighed. She and her brother met eyes. Then she huffed and threw her arms up into the air in defeat. "Oh fine! And if I lose my job because of this – which I probably will – I'm blaming you."

 _Well, you tried Riley ;) A bit of a shorter chapter, but they'll get longer! Thanks so much for reading!_


	8. Keeping Our Promise

Hello welcome back! :) And so the action begins!

Chapter Seven

Keeping Our Promise

Alex got as much work done as she could in the days leading up to the gala, all while helping Ben and Riley prepare for what Riley called 'their evil plan.' Then she told her boss that she had a 'family emergency' to attend to, and wouldn't know when she would be back. _Uh yeah, my brother stole the Declaration of Independence._

They had a busy week ahead of them. While Riley prepped all the tech stuff, like video surveillance, and Ben worked out how he was going to get in and out of the gala without seeming suspicious, Alex helped out with whatever needed to be done. She went to the Archives and pretended she was just another visitor taking photos, when really she was keeping track of security and the guards' positions. She took a zoomed-in photo of one guard's ID badge, which Ben replaced the photo part of with a photo of himself to create a fake ID. He would enter the building dressed as a maintenance worker, with his tuxedo underneath.

Ben also got her to help him search for his George Washington inaugural button to send to Doctor Chase as a thank you, to complete her collection.

"Awww!" Alex cried when he told her of this idea. He'd just rolled his eyes.

"You know I really don't mind making a donation if you want to come," Ben said, speaking of the gala after they'd found the button – Alex wished she could see the look on Doctor Chase's face when she opened her gift from Mr. Brown. Now they were trying to decide whether or not it would be better for Alex to go inside with Ben or stay in the van with Riley.

"I'm happy to support the Archives."

"Yeah, I know, but it's okay, really. Besides, you need to focus on getting in and out, you don't need me there to slow you down."

Ben nodded. "Alright. Besides, you'd rather spend the evening with Riley." He grinned. Payback for her earlier comment about him giving a gift to Doctor Chase. This comment earned him a punch in the arm from his blushing sister. He only laughed.

"Besides, I don't have anything fit to wear for a gala."

"And you'd rather be with Riley." Again, this earned him another punch in the arm. Having known each other since college, Ben had quickly seen the attraction between his friend and sister. Evidently, he loved to tease them about it.

After helping her brother as much as she could Alex turned to helping her friend with his preparations. She went to her favourite diner and got some sandwiches to go and headed to the National Archives building where a familiar worn-looking red van was parked. She knocked. "Open up Mr. Poole, police. We suspect that you might be plotting to steal one of the most important documents in our history, which is a federal crime."

The door slid open moments later to reveal Riley. "Haha very funny."

"I can't believe we're actually doing this," she said, stepping into the van.

"Me neither. And that it might actually work." He slid the door closed behind her.

She held up the to-go bags. "I brought some lunch, thought our tech expert might have worked up an appetite."

"Thanks Al."

"So how's everything going?" she asked, passing him one of the bags.

"Good. I think I'm almost done setting up–" She looked at his laptop to see security camera footage from the Archives. Cool. Riley was such a genius. She wished she was as good with computers and tech stuff as he was, but then he'd said he wished he had a knack for history like her. They'd helped each other in college, she filling him in on any history facts he needed to know (though there were very few) and he always helping her when she ran into technical problems, which with her was often. She was technologically challenged and often said she was born in the wrong era.

"Good timing by the way, I just came back from setting off the heat sensors." He nodded to the computer screen. They sat and watched as a couple of workers removed the Declaration from the vault and carefully carried it to the Preservation Room. The friends exchanged an excited glance.

"Our evil plan is working," exclaimed Riley. They shared a mischievous smile and high-five.

 _Pretty short I know, but they'll get longer! Thanks so much for reading, hope you liked it! :) And please let me know what you think of my character so far!_


	9. Doing What They Knew Was Right

Hello again! Now time for the gala :)

Chapter Eight

Doing What They Knew Was Right

Alex got as much work done as she could in the days leading up to the gala, all while helping Ben and Riley prepare for what Riley called 'their evil plan.' Then she told her boss that she had a 'family emergency' to attend to, and wouldn't know when she would be back. _Uh yeah, my brother stole the Declaration of Independence._

They had a busy week ahead of them. While Riley prepped all the tech stuff, like video surveillance, and Ben worked out how he was going to get in and out of the gala without seeming suspicious, Alex helped out with whatever needed to be done. She went to the Archives and pretended she was just another visitor taking photos, when really she was keeping track of security and the guards' positions. She took a zoomed-in photo of one guard's ID badge, which Ben replaced the photo part of with a photo of himself to create a fake ID. He would enter the building dressed as a maintenance worker, with his tuxedo underneath.

Ben also got her to help him search for his George Washington inaugural button to send to Doctor Chase as a thank you, to complete her collection.

"Awww!" Alex cried when he told her of this idea. He'd just rolled his eyes.

"You know I really don't mind making a donation if you want to come," Ben said, speaking of the gala after they'd found the button – Alex wished she could see the look on Doctor Chase's face when she opened her gift from Mr. Brown. Now they were trying to decide whether or not it would be better for Alex to go inside with Ben or stay in the van with Riley.

"I'm happy to support the Archives."

"Yeah, I know, but it's okay, really. Besides, you need to focus on getting in and out, you don't need me there to slow you down."

Ben nodded. "Alright. Besides, you'd rather spend the evening with Riley." He grinned. Payback for her earlier comment about him giving a gift to Doctor Chase. This comment earned him a punch in the arm from his blushing sister. He only laughed.

"Besides, I don't have anything fit to wear for a gala."

"And you'd rather be with Riley." Again, this earned him another punch in the arm. Having known each other since college, Ben had quickly seen the attraction between his friend and sister. Evidently, he loved to tease them about it.

After helping her brother as much as she could Alex turned to helping her friend with his preparations. She went to her favourite diner and got some sandwiches to go and headed to the National Archives building where a familiar worn-looking red van was parked. She knocked. "Open up Mr. Poole, police. We suspect that you might be plotting to steal one of the most important documents in our history, which is a federal crime."

The door slid open moments later to reveal Riley. "Haha very funny."

"I can't believe we're actually doing this," she said, stepping into the van.

"Me neither. And that it might actually work." He slid the door closed behind her.

She held up the to-go bags. "I brought some lunch, thought our tech expert might have worked up an appetite."

"Thanks Al."

"So how's everything going?" she asked, passing him one of the bags.

"Good. I think I'm almost done setting up–" She looked at his laptop to see security camera footage from the Archives. Cool. Riley was such a genius. She wished she was as good with computers and tech stuff as he was, but then he'd said he wished he had a knack for history like her. They'd helped each other in college, she filling him in on any history facts he needed to know (though there were very few) and he always helping her when she ran into technical problems, which with her was often. She was technologically challenged and often said she was born in the wrong era.

"Good timing by the way, I just came back from setting off the heat sensors." He nodded to the computer screen. They sat and watched as a couple of workers removed the Declaration from the vault and carefully carried it to the Preservation Room. The friends exchanged an excited glance.

"Our evil plan is working," exclaimed Riley. They shared a mischievous smile and high-five.

Eight

Doing What They Knew Was Right

It was finally Friday, the night of the gala. This was it.

"Okay Ben," Riley said as he pulled to a stop across the street from the Archives and Ben hopped out. "Last chance: are you sure you want to do this–" He was cut off by Ben slamming the door. Riley and Alex took that as a yes, Riley putting on his headset and Alex an earpiece so that she could hear her brother.

" _Can you guys hear me?_ " came Ben's voice loud and clear over the radio.

"Yep," answered Alex.

" _Riley?_ "

"Unfortunately, yeah. We're all set in here. Good luck."

Nothing came from Ben for a few minutes after that, though it felt like hours. Riley turned to Alex sitting beside him, looking fidgety with nerves. He nudged her and she turned to face him. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah," she said with a small smile. "Just nervous."

"Yeah," he agreed. "Me too."

 _"_ _Ah hem_." Ben cleared his throat, getting their attention. He knew they were sharing a moment. _"Miss Gates, Mr. Poole, your concentration here would be most appreciated."_ Then he said, _"alright, I'm in."_

 _"_ That was fast _,"_ noted Riley. _"_ How do you look? _"_

 _"_ _Not bad."_

"Go get 'em," said Alex.

A few minutes later, another voice joined Ben's over the radio.

 _"_ _For you."_

" _Oh_ , _Mr. Brown_ ," said Doctor Chase, surprise clearly evident in her voice.

 _"_ _Doctor Chase,"_ replied Ben. Riley and Alex exchanged a look.

 _"_ _What are you doing here?"_ she asked him _._

"Rude," mumbled Riley.

 _"_ _Oh I made a big last-minute donation,"_ Ben explained.

 _"_ _Oh, I see. And on that subject thank you for your wonderful gift. I really couldn't accept something like that normally but I wanted it,"_ Doctor Chase chuckled.

Riley rolled his eyes. "Okay come on Romeo. Get outta there," Riley prompted him. "You've got a job to do."

However, Doctor Chase wasn't finished. _"I am curious though, about the engraving. You know, on the pipe that Big Foot took."_

 _"_ _Hi."_ There came another voice then, another man.

"Who's the stiff?" asked Riley.

"Shh, stop distracting him," hissed Alex.

" _Doctor Herbert this is Mr. Brown."_

 _"_ _Here, let me take this so you can take that off his hands,"_ suggested Ben.

"What?" Riley wondered aloud.

"Drinks?" suggested Alex.

Her assumption was confirmed by Ben's next statement. _"A toast, yeah? To high treason."_ A pause. _"Well that is what these men were committing when they signed the Declaration. Had they lost they would have been hanged, beheaded, drawn and quartered, and oh, my personal favourite, had their entrails cut out and burned!"_ He chuckled. _"So, here's to the men who did what was considered wrong in order to do what they knew was right. What they knew was right."_ He added this last part almost to himself.

"Nicely said," commented Alex. If she had had a glass herself she would have joined in the toast.

There was a gulping noise on the other end of the line so Ben must have taken a large drink. " _Well, good night_."

A few minutes ticked by with nothing said.

"You okay there Ben?" asked Alex. "Still struck by Doctor Chase?"

"I bet she looked really hot," Riley joined in. "Ben couldn't concentrate."

"I thought you were going to ask her out right then and there," added Alex. The two giggled.

 _"_ _Can we please save talk of my love life for later,"_ Ben hissed.

"Where are you now?" asked Riley.

 _"_ _The bathroom. I'm going to try the fingerprints."_

"This better work."

There were a few minutes of tense silence. Then Ben gasped. _"It's working."_

"Unbelievable." Riley shook his head.

 _"_ _Okay we're in the elevator,"_ Ben said a couple of minutes later. Alex couldn't believe how well this was going.

"Okay, I'm going to turn off the surveillance cameras now," said Riley. "Ready? Five, four, three, two, one, now – Ben Gates, you are now the invisible man."

"Cool," breathed Alex.

" _I'm at the computer_."

"Okay give me the letters for her password. What have you got for me? Hit me with it," said Riley, fingers poised over the keyboard.

 _"_ _A-E-F-G-L-O-R-V-Y,"_ Ben recited.

"Okay–" Riley's fingers raced across the keys. "Anagrams being listed. Okay…" He sighed at the long list that appeared. "Top results: A glove fry, A very golf, Fargo levy, gravy floe, valey frog, ago fly rev…" He continued listing off the results, sounding more and more discouraged with each one.

 _"_ _Wait, wait,"_ cried Ben. _"It's 'Valley Forge'. She pressed 'E' and 'L' twice."_

Moments later Ben appeared in the security camera footage displayed on Riley's computer. Riley and Alex exchanged an excited high-five.

 _"_ _We're in,"_ cried Ben, waving to the camera.

Alex waved back even though he couldn't see. "You're doing great Big Brother." She and Riley watched as Ben approached the Declaration and carefully began to unscrew the case.

"Pick it up," Riley said. "You've got about one–" He was cut off then when something really bad happened. _Really_ bad. The computer screen went fuzzy and then went blank altogether.

 _Yikes! But we know what happens next :) Thanks so much for reading! Bye for now!_


	10. Our Evil Plan is Working

And here we start again right where we left off :) enjoy!

Chapter Nine

Our Evil Plan is Working

No warning, just blank. Ben was gone, the Declaration was gone. It was all gone.

"I lost my feed," cried Riley in disbelief. This couldn't be happening now.

" _What?"_ demanded Ben.

"I lost my feed Ben!" Riley cried, fiddling around with the wires. "I don't know where anyone is, I have nothing. Ben I have nothing," he cried in a panic. He tried every key, but nothing helped.

"Ben get out of there!" cried Alex, also panicking. "You've got to get out of there now!"

Moments later they heard a grunt from Ben. _"I'm taking the whole thing with me. I'll finish getting it out in the elevator."_

Riley and Alex sat in tense silence, waiting for an update. They both winced when a sudden sharp sound cut through their earpieces.

"What was that?" asked Riley.

"Wait, are those, _gunshots_?" cried Alex, realizing that sound wasn't from the headpiece at all, but from the other end of the line where Ben was.

"Who's shooting?" asked Riley. "Are you still there?" Nothing.

"Ben!" cried Alex, panic-stricken.

 _"_ _I'm okay, I'm in the elevator. Ian's here. There was some shooting,"_ came Ben's stressed voice.

"What?!"

"I hate that guy," mumbled Riley.

Nothing was said for a while.

"Ben?" Alex finally said. "Ben?"

"Where are you?" Riley added in a sing-song voice.

 _"_ _Stop talking."_ Finally, Ben emerged from the building. " _Start the van_." Riley and Alex threw down the equipment and climbed into the front seats of the van as Ben made his way over.

That was when Riley noticed Doctor Chase stalking across the street, looking very determined and slightly scary. And she was headed straight for them. "Uh Ben, t-the mean Declaration lady's behind you."

"It's Doctor Chase Ben!" hissed Alex.

"Hey," said Doctor Chase. Riley and Alex sunk down in their seats, listening to the conversation between her and Ben through both their earpieces and clearly from just outside the van.

"Oh, it's you. Hello." Ben always did a good job of sounding calm, but one could definitely catch a nervous edge to his voice just now.

"Mr. Brown what is going on here?" she demanded. "What's that?"

Both Riley and Alex shot each other a glance. _Oh no!_

"I-it's a souvenir," said Ben.

"Really?" She did not however, sound convinced.

"D-did you have a nice time at the party?" Ben asked, trying desperately to change the subject.

 _Oh yeah, now's a good time to try and be charming and flirtatious,_ thought Alex.

"Stop chatting and get in the van," Riley hissed to Ben through clenched teeth.

"Yeah." Before she could continue, she was interrupted by the Archive's alarm being set off, blaring into the night.

"Oh my God," sighed Riley.

"Oh my – oh my God," cried Doctor Chase. "You did not – give me that!"

"Take it, it's yours," Ben cried, before throwing open the van's back door and jumping inside. "Go!" he cried.

"Security! Over here!" Doctor Chase began to yell. She began heading back towards the building.

"What, we can't just let her take it!" protested Riley.

"We can now go!" shouted Ben.

"Security!"

"Wait, wait, stop!" cried Ben, watching as a catering truck pulled up in front of Doctor Chase, a couple of men jumping out. Shaw and Powell.

The three watched them struggle to wrestle the Declaration from Doctor Chase's grasp, but soon gave up and hauled her into the truck.

"Oh bad," said Ben. "Oh bad, bad, bad!" He practically threw open the door and jumped out of the van, ducking behind it to avoid another gunshot.

"Alex get down!" Riley cried, they ducking just in time as a shot hit and smashed the window on Riley's side.

The shooting ceased abruptly and with that, the truck sped off.

"Go, go!" shouted Ben, jumping into the back of the van. Riley stepped on it and took off after the truck.

"Once we catch them what are we going to do?" he asked.

"I'm working on it," answered Ben.

They took a sharp turn in pursuit of the truck.

"Ah, Riley!" cried Alex, hanging on for dear life as they drove over a bumpy part of road and skidded around the corner.

"Hang on!" he replied.

Then, suddenly, the three watched in horror as the back door of the truck swung open sharply, Doctor Chase hanging off of it, the Declaration clutched in her hand.

"Oh no."

"Oh God."

"Holy Lord!"

There was more shooting. Once it passed Ben opened the back door, hanging onto the seat belt, leaning out and reaching for Doctor Chase. "Abigail! Come on, jump!" They grabbed hands and with one last scream, she jumped and he pulled her into the van. Then he slammed the door and Riley took a turn away from Ian's truck, finally ending the chase.

 _Haha, I love that chase scene! Especially when the truck goes bouncing through the construction site! Thanks so much for reading! :)_


	11. Post-Chase

Hello and welcome back! :) Here's another chapter for you!

Chapter Ten

Post-Chase

Poor Doctor Chase, obviously shaken and probably in shock, was shouting in the back of the van, Ben trying to calm her. However, she seemed more concerned about the Declaration than the fact that she had almost died.

"Are you alright?" Ben demanded for seemingly the hundredth time.

"Those lunatics–"

"You're not hurt are you?"

"You're all lunatics!"

"You hungry?" Ben tried.

This worked. "What?" she demanded, now actually paying attention.

"Are you alright?!" Ben asked for the final time.

"A little on edge from being shot at but we'll be okay, thanks for asking," Riley piped up from the front seat.

"Yeah well I'm not alright," cried Doctor Chase, finally answering Ben's question. "Those men have the Declaration of Independence!'

"What – she lost it?!" cried Riley.

"They don't have it." Ben opened the long cylindrical case he'd put the Declaration in, showing her its contents and taking it back before she could grab it. "See, okay? Now please stop shouting." Riley and Alex both breathed a sigh of relief from the front seat.

"Give me that!" Doctor Chase demanded.

"You know something: you're still shouting. And it's really starting to annoy. You would do well, Doctor Chase, to be a bit more civilized in this instance." Ben sat down.

"If this is the real one, what did they get?"

"I told you, a souvenir. I thought it would be good to have a double, and I was right. I actually had to pay for both so you owe me thirty-five dollars, plus tax." Ben gave her a little smile.

"Genius," said Riley.

"Who were those men?" demanded Doctor Chase.

"Just the guys we tried to warn you would steal the Declaration," said Alex.

"And you didn't believe us," Riley added accusingly.

"So we did the only thing we could do to keep it safe," Ben finished.

There was a moment of silence, broken quickly by Doctor Chase's shout of, " _Verdammt_! Give me that!" She reached for the Declaration case again, only to have Ben snatch it back out of reach.

"You know something? You're shouting again," Ben informed her.

"Pretty sure she was swearing at us too," said Riley.

"Yeah well," said Alex. "We probably deserve it."

"And now that you have the Declaration what are you going to do?"

"We told you, we believe there's a map on the back of it-"

"Right, the 'invisible treasure map'," Doctor Chase said mockingly. "There is no map on the back of the Declaration of-"

"Well how would you know? If it's invisible?" Ben countered. This shut her up. "We're going to find out."

She realized what this meant. "You can't seriously intend to run chemical tests on the Declaration of Independence in the back of a moving van." She sounded appalled.

"We have a clean-room environment all set up," Riley stated proudly. "EDS suits, a particulate air filtration system, the whole shebang. That's where we're headed now."

"Really?" She looked to Ben.

"Really really," replied Alex.

"We can't go back there," Ben sighed.

"What do you mean?" Alex asked her brother.

"I didn't have enough cash to pay for the fake Declaration…"

"Oh no." She shook her head.

"A credit-card slip?!" cried Riley, also catching on to what this meant. "Dude, we're on the grid. They're going to have your records from forever, my records from forever, Alex's records-"

"I know, I know," Ben cut him off. "And it's only a matter of minutes before the FBI shows up at my door. That's why we can't go back."

"Well now what are we going to do?" demanded Riley.

Ben turned to his sister. "We need those letters."

"What letters?" asked Doctor Chase.

"Riley take a right, get off the road," Ben said, ignoring her question. Riley did so and they drove to a nearby park which, lucky for them, was deserted at this time of night.

"What letters?" Doctor Chase demanded again.

"The Silence Dogood Letters," answered Alex. "The originals." She and Riley were still seated up front. The back door was open where Doctor Chase sat and Ben paced back and forth before them.

"You have the original Silence Dogood Letters?" Doctor Chase said in disbelief. Then she smirked. "Steal those too?"

"Well they're not exactly the originals," Ben said. "They're scans of the originals. Quiet please."

"How did you get scans?"

"Well, you take the originals to a photocopier," began Riley, starting to get really irritated.

Alex nudged him. "We know the person who has the originals."

Doctor Chase waited a moment before asking, "Why do you need them?"

Ben stopped. "She really can't shut her mouth, can she?" Alex and Riley just shrugged.

"Here, you know what, I will let you hold on to this, if you'll promise to shut up, please. Thank you." He placed the document case into the now silent Doctor Chase's hands before going back to his pacing.

"Ben you know what we have to do," Alex said.

"I know, I'm just trying to think of something, anything else we could do."

"Well just a friendly reminder you do know how many people we have after us right now," Riley said. "It took you all of two seconds to decide to steal the Declaration of Independence-"

"Yeah but I didn't think I'd actually have to tell my dad about it," Ben cut in.

As they were busy discussing what to do next, what course of action to take, no one noticed Doctor Chase slipping off her shoes. She chose this moment to make a run for it, Declaration in hand.

Luckily, Ben was quick to react. "Hey, not cool!" He grabbed her around the waist from behind.

She squirmed. "Let me go!"

Ben set her down and snatched away the Declaration. "There, you're let go, now shoo." He made a shooing motion with his hand.

"I'm not going without the Declaration," she stated firmly, grabbing onto it again.

"Well you're not going with the Declaration." They began to pull on the case back and forth, like a tug-of-war.

"Well I'm not letting it out of my sight so I'm going."

"Wait, you're not going with us with the Declaration," Ben said, realizing what she meant.

"Yes I am!"

"No you're not!"

From where they were still seated in the van, Riley and Alex rolled their eyes.

"Hey Romeo, Juliet, come on," Alex called, breaking up their argument for a moment. "Let's go before it gets too late and Dad's asleep and we have to commit another crime by breaking into his house."

"Look–" Doctor Chase grabbed Ben by the collar of his suit jacket. "If you wanted to leave me behind you shouldn't have told me where you're going."

Ben was about to protest, but then realized her point. He looked back at his sister and friend. Riley groaned.

The four piled back into the van and Ben and Alex gave Riley directions to their dad's house.

"Looks okay," Riley said as they pulled to a stop in front of the quiet house. Lights were still on inside so that was a good sign.

"Park a couple of blocks away," Ben instructed.

"How long do you think we've got?" Alex asked him.

"A couple of hours at least – I hope," he answered.

"What about her?" asked Riley of Doctor Chase. "I've got some duct tape in the back…" To this she looked very startled. _He wasn't serious?_

"No, that's not necessary. She won't be any trouble," said Ben. Then he turned to the person in question. "Promise you won't be any trouble?"

She sighed and gave a roll of her heavily eye-shadowed eyes. "I promise." She finished with a sweet smile.

"See, she's curious."

Riley parked the van and they all got out. As they approached the house Ben gave his sister a gentle push forward. "You go first, he'll be happier to see you."

 _Hope you enjoyed, let me know what you think! Bye for now!_


	12. One Big Happy Family

Hello, I'm back! Back from my vacation and feeling inspired! :)

Chapter Eleven

One Big Happy Family

 _Ding dong!_ The doorbell gave a great ring when Ben pushed it. Moments later the door opened to reveal Patrick in a bathrobe. He looked surprised to say the least.

"Dad," greeted Ben nervously.

"Hey Dad," said Alex cheerfully, as if nothing was wrong. As if they hadn't just committed a federal crime.

"Where's the party?" asked Patrick.

The Gates siblings exchanged a glance. "Uh, well, we're in a little trouble," Ben chuckled nervously, while Alex just stood there with a cheesy grin on her face, internally panicking.

Patrick looked from them to Abigail. "She pregnant?"

"What, no–" cried Ben. _Really Dad?_

Then Patrick looked to his daughter standing next to the young man he was sure she was secretly dating. His eyes narrowed behind the lenses of his glasses. "You're not-"

"No!" cried Alex, waving her arms in the air. "No one's pregnant Dad, that's not why we're here."

Before her father could say something along the lines of, 'well then why are you here?' Ben jumped in. "And even if either of them are, are you really going to leave the woman carrying your grandchild out in the cold?"

Patrick stood for a moment before gesturing them inside.

"I look pregnant?" Abigail said softly to Alex who assured her that she did not.

"Well, come in, make yourselves comfortable," Patrick said awkwardly, gesturing to the couches in the spacious living room. "There's some pizza there, still warm I think." Then he lowered his voice and said only to Ben, "this had better not be about that dumb treasure."

Abigail was pleased to find that she wasn't the only one who thought this was all just some silly fantasy.

"You ask him," Ben hissed to his sister who returned the over-exaggerated grin to her face and turned back to their father.

"Dad, we need the Silence Dogood letters – please," she added, hoping it would help.

At their father's confused look Ben added, "yeah, it's about the treasure."

This obviously upset their father, just as they knew it would. He turned to the others. "And he dragged you all into this nonsense."

"Literally," Abigail said.

"I volunteered," spoke up Riley.

"Well un-volunteer before you waste your life,"

"Knock it off Dad," Ben said, trying to stop an oncoming argument, even though it was most likely inevitable. This wasn't the first time he and his father had clashed about their views on the treasure, and, he guessed, it wouldn't be the last time either.

"Sure, I know, I'm the family kook," ranted Patrick, ignoring his son. "I have a job, a house, health insurance. At least I had your mother for however brief a time, at least I had your sister, unless she's been dragged into this too. At least I had you. What do you have? Him?" He gestured to Riley who was helping himself to the leftover pizza.

Ben sighed, trying to keep calm. "Look, just give us the letters and we're gone."

Patrick shook his head. "You disappoint me Ben."

Alex let out a gasp. "Dad!" she cried, appalled.

"Yeah, well maybe that's the real Gates family legacy, sons who disappoint their fathers," Ben shot back.

"Ben," warned Alex.

Patrick's jaw was now set tight. "Get out, just get out. And take your troubles with you."

"Alright you two that's enough." Alex stepped in fully this time, before either of them could say something else they would most likely come to regret. She couldn't stand it when her father and brother fought, and had witnessed it more than enough, even worse than this.

"I found the _Charlotte_ ," Ben was the first to break the tense, uncomfortable silence, his voice softer now.

At this Patrick's eyes widened. " _The_ Charlotte? You mean she was a ship?"

"Yeah, she was beautiful, it was amazing Dad."

"And the treasure?" Patrick dared to ask.

"No, no treasure, but we found another-"

"Another clue," finished Patrick. "And that's all you'll ever find is another clue. You know I've finally figured it out: the treasure was invented to keep the British occupied searching for buried treasure. It's a myth."

Ben and Alex exchanged a glance. "We refuse to believe that," Ben spoke for them both.

Patrick looked as though he was about to argue further, but then gave up and sighed. "Well, you can believe what you want, you're all grown up. Do what you want."

"He's probably right," Abigail said after a moment. She shrugged. "You don't even know if there really is another clue."

"Well I know of a way we can find out," Ben said, now looking a little less crushed and once again determined. "And we can find out right now."

 _Haha I love Patrick, he's so funny! And I love him and Emily in the second movie :) Sorry for the delay while I was away (haha that rhymes! :P) and as always, thanks so much for reading!_


	13. The Next Clue

Hello and welcome back! Here's the next chapter! :)

Chapter Twelve

The Next Clue

In a matter of minutes the group had cleared off the dining room table, laid a plastic covering over the surface, and had a bowl of sliced lemons and Q-Tips at the ready. Once everyone had put on a pair of gloves Ben withdrew the document and carefully laid it out on the table face-down.

"Looks like animal skin," piped up Patrick from where he stood in the doorway, watching them. "How old is it?"

They all exchanged a glance. "At least two hundred years," Ben jumped in.

"At least," added Alex.

"Really, you sure?"

"Pretty darn."

"Now, if this is really invisible ink, how do we look at it?" asked Riley from his perch on a nearby stool.

"Throw it in the oven," suggested Patrick. He jumped a little when the four people cried in unison, "NO!" to this.

"Ferrous sulfate inks can only be brought out with heat," Patrick explained.

"Yes but this is–" Abigail began.

Ben jumped in. "Is very old. And we wouldn't want to risk compromising the map."

Patrick shrugged. "You need a reagent," he stated knowingly.

"Dad, it's getting really late. Why don't you get some rest," Alex suggested.

"I'm fine," Patrick replied. He was curious, though didn't want to admit it.

The four watched him leave the room. Then Ben turned to Riley. "Lemons." Riley handed him the small bowl of lemon slices. Ben took one and held it over the Declaration, about to squeeze the juice onto the surface.

Before he could however, Abigail caught his wrist in an iron grip. "You can't do that!"

"It has to be done," he countered.

"Then someone who was trained to handle antique documents is going to do it."

He looked at her and nodded. "Okay," he agreed and handed her the lemon slice.

"Okay, now if there really is a secret message it'll probably be marked by a symbol in the upper right-hand corner," Alex explained.

Abigail swabbed a Q-Tip with lemon juice. "I am so getting fired for this," she mumbled and began rubbing the juice in the upper right corner.

They all waited, practically holding their breaths, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. A defeated silence settled around the room.

"I told you," Patrick piped up. "You need heat."

Ben and Abigail exchanged a glance before both leaned forward and blew on the corner covered in juice. A faint outline appeared. Happy and excited gasps were exchanged.

"We need more juice," said Ben.

"We need more heat," agreed Abigail.

"You're welcome," said Patrick.

More lemons were sliced and a hairdryer was brought out. Pretty soon a whole line of numbers could be seen on the back of the document. Ben applied the juice while Abigail used the hairdryer to heat the document's surface. Alex peered over their shoulders, notepad and pen in hand, writing down the numbers as they appeared.

"That's not a map, is it?" asked Riley. It was certainly unlike any map he'd ever seen. "Are those latitudes and longitudes?"

"More clues, what a surprise," said Patrick to no one in particular.

"That's why we need the Silence Dogood letters," said Ben.

"That's the key?" confirmed Alex. "'The Key in Silence Undetected'"

"That's right," said Ben. Then he looked up at their father. "Dad can we please have the letters now?"

"Can someone please explain to me what these magic numbers are," said Riley, sounding very confused.

"It's a cipher," said Abigail.

"An Ottendorf Cipher," added Alex.

"Oh great, just great." Riley nodded. "What's an Ottendorf Cipher?"

"They're just codes," answered Patrick.

"Each of these three numbers corresponds to a word in a key," Ben explained, elaborating on his father's explanation.

"Usually a random book or a newspaper article," continued Alex. "In this case the Silence Dogood Letters."

"So it's like the page number of the key text, the line on the page, and the letter in that line," Ben explained, pointing to each of the numbers. He looked up at his father. "So, Dad, where are the letters."

"You know," Patrick began, addressing Riley and Abigail. "It's just by sheer happenstance that their grandfather even found the letters. They were in an antique desk from the press room…"

Ben tried to interject but Patrick continued to ramble on. Brother and sister exchanged a glance. This wasn't looking promising.

"…Of The New-England Courant – that's a newspaper."

"Dad," Ben finally managed to interrupt. "Where are the letters?"

"I don't have them," Patrick admitted.

"What?"

"I don't have them," Patrick repeated.

Ben sat back heavily into a chair and removed his gloves. "Well where are they?"

"I donated them to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia."

Ben got to his feet. "Time to go."

While he, Alex, and Riley readied themselves to leave, Abigail was still in awe of the cipher. "I still can't believe it. All this time, no one knew what was on the back."

"On the back of what?" Before anyone could stop him Patrick lifted the document.

"Whoa!"

"Dad!"

"No!"

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Patrick, his eyes growing wide. "Oh my God, oh my God! This is _the Declaration of Independence_!" And it was sitting there on his dining room table.

Alex was worried for a moment that he might faint.

Abigail managed to pluck it from his grasp. "Yes, and it's very delicate."

"You stole it?!"

"D-Dad we can explain," began Alex, looking to her brother.

"We just don't have time," Ben finished. "But it was necessary. You saw the cipher–"

"And that will lead to another clue, and another and another! There is no treasure!" roared Patrick. "I wasted twenty years of my life searching for the stupid thing and now you've destroyed yours! And you've dragged me into all this!"

Ben sighed. "Well we can't have that."

Ben got Riley to fetch the duct tape from the van and they taped Patrick to a chair in front of the TV.

"We're so sorry Dad," Alex told him as they left. "We really owe him," she said to her brother.

The four piled into Patrick's car and drove off with the Declaration and the next clue.

"Your dad's got a sweet ride," said Riley, leaning against the side of the car in an attempt to get some sleep. He and Alex had taken the back seat this time, allowing Ben and Abigail to sit in the front.

"I think we should change clothes," Ben told Abigail. "We look kind of conspicuous, don't you think?"

"I'd love to go shopping too," piped up Riley from the back seat. "But we've got no money. And no more using your credit card."

"Here I took this from his house," Ben said, passing Abigail a little book. "He usually tuck a few hundred dollars between the pages."

"Poor Dad," mumbled Alex.

" _Common Sense,"_ Abigail read the title. Then she added sarcastically, "how appropriate."

 _Haha! Hope you're enjoying so far :) thanks so much guys!_


	14. Pass and Stow

Hello, so sorry for the delay in updating! Here you are!

Chapter Thirteen

Pass and Stow

IThey drove into the early hours of the morning; Alex was surprised Ben didn't fall asleep at the wheel. She and Riley leaned against each other in the back and tried to get some sleep. When they reached Philadelphia which felt like long hours later they stopped at a motel and rested for a little while, which everyone was in great need of. Now, late the next morning, Ben and Abigail were out clothes shopping, Riley was figuring out their next clue, and Alex was on food duty.

She went to a little local coffee shop and got them sandwiches and coffee and then went and joined Riley where he was outside of the Franklin Institute. She remembered coming here on a field trip once in elementary school. She had sometimes been mocked by her classmates for being a Gates, but tried not to let it bother her. She had been a bit of a teacher's pet you could say, always the first one to raise her hand to answer a history question.

As she neared the institute she noticed a figure sitting on a bench in a familiar hunched manner and hoodie. As she approached the bench Riley was sitting on she found him talking to a young schoolboy. She saw Riley hand him a dollar bill and watched him run off and into the Institute.

"Bribing kids with money, nice," she said as she came over.

"Well I thought with how many people we have after us, better we're not the ones to go in looking."

She sat down next to him. "Fair enough." She looked down at the newspaper he was using to write out the message. "' _The vision to see the treasured past comes as the timely shadow crosses in front of the house of Pass and Stow,_ '" she read aloud from Riley's messy handwriting. She racked her brain through all the history facts she had acquired and stuffed in there over the years.

"Hmmm, Pass and Stow," she mumbled over and over again. "Pass and Stow, Pass and Stow..."

Her thoughts were interrupted then when Riley started nudging her. "Alex look!"

She looked up to where he was pointing: a bus had stopped across the street from them, with an ad on the side for the displaying of the Liberty Bell at Independence Hall.

It all clicked at once, like the pieces of a puzzle. The friends exchanged an excited glance. "Liberty Bell!" they cried at once.

"Okay!" said Riley excitedly, getting to his feet. "Let's go and tell the lovebirds!"

They practically ran to the store to share their discovery with Ben and Abigail. They found them at the cashier paying for their new clothes.

"Did you get it?" asked Ben, noticing their excitement right away.

"Oh we got it!" exclaimed Riley. "' _The vision to see the treasured past comes as the timely shadow crosses in front of the house of Pass and Stow_ '. Now, 'Pass and Stow' of course referring to-"

"The Liberty Bell," they said in unison.

Riley sighed defeated. "Why do you have to do that?"

"Well John Pass and John Stow cast the bell," Abigail explained.

"Yeah John and John, always easy to remember," added Alex.

"Yeah, easy, always," he mumbled.

"'The vision to see the treasured past,'" Ben recited, deep in thought. "That must refer to a way to read the map."

"But I thought the cipher was the map," said Riley. This sure was a confusing process.

"No the cipher was a way to find the way to read the map," said Ben. "Confusing, I know."

"Yeah no kidding," his friend mumbled.

"And the way to read the map," continued Abigail. "Is found where the 'timely shadow' passes in front of the Liberty Bell."

"Crosses in front of the _house_ of the Liberty Bell." Ben and Abigail were having an intense realization moment, seeming to have forgotten the two others standing there. "Independence Hall."

"So then 'timely shadow' must be a specific time," said Alex, breaking them apart.

"But what time?" asked Riley.

"Hmm, what time, what time?" Ben wondered aloud. "Oh wait! You're going to love this," he told Abigail. Alex knew what he was talking about.

"Excuse me," he said going over to the cashier. "Can I see one of those hundred-dollar bills I paid you with?"

She looked confused. "No."

"Oh, well, here I have this diver's watch," said Ben, removing his watch. "It's called a submariner, I dive with it. It's quite valuable, you can use it as collateral."

Still looking confused, the girl took the watch and handed him back the bill. "Thank you." Ben took it and turned back to Abigail. "On the back of a hundred-dollar bill there's an etching of Independence Hall based on a painting done in the 1780s - the artist was actually a friend of Benjamin Franklin's, it's wonderful!" he exclaimed.

Alex couldn't help but smile and shake her head. Ben was so cute when he was so excited about history. Abigail obviously thought so too, judging by the smile she was giving him. Yup, he had her smitten.

"Here, hold this." In his excitement he thoughtlessly passed Abigail the Declaration case. Realizing what he'd done he turned and looked at her.

She gave him a smile. "I'm not going anywhere," she assured him.

Smiling too, Ben continued. "Now, I think that if we look at this clock tower we may find the specific time." Taking a plastic water bottle he held it close to the bill, using it to magnify the image. The others crowded around and peered over his shoulder to try and catch a glimpse. He lowered the bottle, grinning. "2:22."

"What time is it now?" asked Abigail.

"Almost three," answered Alex, looking at her own watch.

The whole group sighed. "We missed it," said Abigail.

"No we didn't," piped up Riley. "We didn't miss it because-" Thinking he would be interrupted once again by his history-crazy friends Riley paused, but to his surprise, they didn't cut in. They only stared at him, awaiting what he had to say. "Wait, you don't know this?" he asked in disbelief. "I know something about history that you don't know?"

"I'd be very excited to learn about it Riley," Ben prompted him.

Riley, however, was basking in this rare moment. "Hold on, just a second. Let me just take in this moment. This is cool."

"Ri," tried Alex.

Still no luck. "Is this how you feel all the time?" Riley continued. "I mean, except for now, of course-"

"Riley!" snapped Abigail, finally getting through to him.

"All right," he said, matching his tone to hers. "What I know is that daylight savings wasn't established until World War One. So if it's three p.m. now, then that means in 1776 it would be two p.m." He watched as their faces all lit up.

"Good going Riley," Alex said, patting him on the shoulder.

"Riley, you're a genius," agreed Ben.

"Let's go!" cried Abigail, leading the way out of the store.

"Do you know who the first person to suggest daylight savings was?" Riley asked, hoping for a reaction like last time. He was answered by a chorus of "Benjamin Franklin!" He sighed. It had been worth a try.

 _Haha, oh Riley! ;) there's another chapter! Hope you enjoyed, thanks so much for reading! Sorry again for the delay!_


	15. 3:22

Hello, so sorry AGAIN for the delay!

Chapter Fourteen

3:22

The group headed straight for Independence Hall. They joined in a tour around the hall until Ben broke away from it, the others following him up a blocked-off staircase. The stairs led up to the Independence Hall steeple.

"Good stuff," said Riley as they emerged at the top. "Hey, what bell is this?"

"The Centennial Belle, it replaced the Liberty Bell in 1876," Ben explained. He went first, helping Abigail up. Riley came next and Alex came last. Riley offered her a hand up.

They all stood around for a couple of minutes, Ben looking down at his watch, waiting for the exact moment. Finally, the clock struck 2:22 p.m. 1776 time. The shadow created by the steeple pointed the way: to a cluster of bricks on the outside wall.

"There it is." Abigail smiled.

"Okay, I'm going to go down there and then I'll meet you guys in the Signing Room," instructed Ben.

"We'll meet you there," corrected Alex.

"Okay," Abigail agreed, motioning for Riley to follow her back down the steeple stairs.

"3:22, my idea," mumbled Riley.

Alex smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "See you soon." Then she went and joined her brother.

From the steeple they headed out onto the roof over to where the shadow pointed. They stared at the bricks bathed in shadow. One had a Freemason's symbol in the corner. Brother and sister exchanged an excited glance. Then Ben pulled out his pocket knife and flicked out the blade, using it to carve out the marked brick. When he finally pried the brick from the wall he removed it and reached inside the now empty space, but feeling only more brick inside.

"Wait, Ben look!" cried Alex. "It's hollow." She took the brick in one hand, dumping out its contents into the other. They peered down at what they had acquired, the next clue: a pair of old-fashioned glasses with little coloured lenses over the actual lenses.

Now they exchanged a triumphant grin. "Let's go," said Alex, tucking the glasses safely into her pocket. Ben returned the brick and they headed back over to the steeple. Looking back they found the shadow had passed. They had just made it.

"Hey what'd you score?" asked Riley when the siblings reached the Signing Room. Ben held his hand out for the glasses and Alex handed them to him.

"Some kind of ocular device. ' _The vision to see the treasured past_.'"

Riley took them. "They're like early American X-ray specs."

"Benjamin Franklin invented something like these," Abigail said, also inspecting them.

"I think he invented these." Ben took the case and removed the Declaration.

"So what do we do?" asked Riley.

"We look through it." Ben unrolled the Declaration. Then he paused. "Wow," he breathed.

"What?"

"It's just, the last time this was here, it was being signed," Ben reminded them. He sighed contently again.

"Ben, there's another tour coming!" cried Riley in exasperation. This was no time to bask in historical facts.

"Right, turn it over," Ben instructed.

"Carefully," added Abigail.

Carefully, the four flipped over the document so that the back now faced them.

"Spectacles." Ben held out his hand and Riley passed him the glasses and he put them on. "Wow," he breathed.

"What do you see?" asked Alex eagerly.

"What is it? Is it a treasure map?!" pressed Riley.

"It says 'Heere at the wall,' 'Heere' spelled with two E's. Take a look." He removed the spectacles and held them out. Riley reached for them but Abigail snatched them away.

She put them on. "Wow!" she gasped.

"Why can't they just say 'go to this place, there's the treasure, spend it wisely'?" Riley said, sounding frustrated.

"What would be the fun in that?" Alex said with a smile, nudging him.

She noticed them first: Phil and Powell standing out on the front grounds. She went over to the window and peered out. "Uh oh. Guys we've got company."

"How'd they find us?" asked Riley, joining her by the window.

"Ian has almost unlimited resources, and he's smart," said Ben.

"I don't think we can get out of here without being spotted," said Abigail, speaking all of their thoughts aloud.

"Well we don't want them to have the Declaration or the glasses, and we certainly don't want them to have them together," said Ben. "So we'll separate the lock from the key: we'll split up."

"Good idea," said Abigail.

"Here, you take this," Ben said, handing her the plastic container holding the Declaration, removing it from the case. He put the now empty case over his shoulder. "And I'll take this and the glasses. Meet me at the car and call me if you have any problems."

"Like if we get caught and killed," said Riley.

"Yeah that would be a big problem. Take care of her." They weren't sure if Ben meant Abigail, Alex, or the Declaration, but the three all said in unison, 'I will.' And with that they set off in their opposite directions.

 _Off they go! Haha thanks so much for reading, and sorry again for the delay!_


	16. Separate the Lock From the Key

Hello! Me again! Here's the next chapter - enjoy!

Chapter Fifteen

Separate the Lock From the Key

Ben went first. The others waited a few minutes before heading off in their own direction, casually crossing the grounds. Abigail led the way, steering them into a thick crowd of people.

"Riley, Alex!" she suddenly cried. The friends turned to see Shaw and Viktor headed towards them, shoving people out of the way and shouting.

"Time to run," said Riley, and the three broke out into just that, a run.

They ran into a crowded indoor market, Riley and Alex taking off in one direction and Abigail another. Luckily Ian's men were easy to spot in their dark clothes.

Alex started to panic a little when they couldn't locate Abigail through the crowd. They couldn't just leave her here. Finally Riley spotted her hiding behind a flower booth. They came up behind her, startling her.

"Shhh!" they both hissed when she gave a startled cry.

"Where were you?!" she demanded.

"Hiding!" Riley cried.

"Come on, let's go," said Alex, and they fled from the market.

They tore down the street, Shaw and Powell in hot pursuit; they hadn't managed to lose them for long.

They rounded a corner sharply, Riley bumping into and getting caught in a group of people, the girls continuing on. Alex noticed him first, and slowed down, while Abigail kept running but threw a look over her shoulder at her companions. Having turned away for a moment Abigail couldn't see where she was going and crashed into a cyclist. He was alright and continued on but she crashed to the ground, the Declaration flying from her hand and rolling out into the street. As she was stunned, Alex continued running - right out into the street after the document. Right as she caught up to it a huge truck turned and came her way.

"Alex!" yelled Riley.

But she was pulled out of the way just in time, over to the opposite side of the street by none other than Ian.

"Hello Alex Love," he said, smiling down at her, plucking the Declaration from her hands. "Fancy seeing you here."

* * *

Riley was about to sprint across the street towards her, when he heard shouting behind them: Viktor and Shaw still pursuing them. Abigail grabbed his wrist and dragged him away.

"Let them go," he heard Ian say to his men. "We have everything we need right here."

Riley _really_ hated that guy.

He and Abigail ran for a few more blocks until they were sure they were far enough away. He was kind of angry with her for making them leave Alex. He'd told Ben he would look after her. He pulled out his cellphone and dialed Ben's number. Ben had said to call if there were any problems, and this was a _big_ problem.

"They got it, the Declaration," he said as soon as Ben answered. "We lost it, Ian took it."

"What?!" cried Ben. Riley winced at the obvious disappointment in his friend's voice. Then Ben sighed. "Well you're all alright? You're not hurt?"

"Yeah yeah we're alright." Now it was Riley's turn to sigh. "But they got Alex too."

"What?!" cried Ben again, this time with more alarm. There was silence on his end of the line for a moment. "I-it's okay. We know Ian likes Alex, so she should be safe. He won't harm her."

"Ben, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Ben assured him. He sighed again. "Okay meet me back at the car."

Riley and Abigail did so. But when they rounded the corner to where they had parked the car they found that their situation had only gotten worse: the FBI was there, arresting Ben. The two froze before Riley took her arm and they quickly turned around and headed back the way they'd come. Now both Ben and Alex were gone.

They soon reached a quiet park. Both collapsed onto a bench, still breathless from the chase. A few minutes later, once they had caught their breath and fully wrapped their heads around what had happened, Abigail stood and began pacing while Riley sat on a the bench, looking close to tears. Now both of his best friends were gone, one taken by the FBI and the other taken by their crazy ex-team member. He hoped Ben was right and that Ian wouldn't harm Alex.

Behind him, he heard Abigail sigh. "Riley, do you know how to get in touch with Ian?"

* * *

Alex hoped the others were alright. She didn't blame them - better she be the only one who was captured while they could still decipher the clues and get to the treasure first.

She squirmed away from Ian's hand which was on the small of her back. In turn she was shoved forward by Shaw towards a black SUV. Powell opened the door and she found that the back seat was already occupied.

"Alex!"

"Dad?!" cried Alex, throwing her arms around her father. Was he really here? What was he doing here? Poor Patrick had his hands duct-taped together. She turned on Ian. "What did you do?!"

"I felt your brother needed a little persuading," Ian answered, getting into the passenger seat. "Maybe now he'll cooperate."

 _Ooo, so evil! Haha hope you enjoyed, thanks so much for reading :) And I've finished writing this story now - yay! - which means I can update more frequently :)_


	17. Making a Deal

Here's chapter sixteen! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Sixteen

Making a Deal

Alex had no idea where they were headed. She felt better having her dad there with her. She glared at Ian through the rear-view mirror the whole time.

She was thankful that they hadn't duct-taped her hands too. Ian had, however, taken away her cellphone.

Speaking of her cellphone. The tense silence was broken then by the shrill ring of her cellphone. Ian withdrew it and answered. "Hello?" He smirked and turned around to face Alex, passing her the phone. "It's your techie boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" cried Patrick, but Alex ignored him. She snatched the phone from Ian.

"Riley!" she cried.

"I knew it!" cried Patrick. She waved a hand at him to shush him.

"Alex!" Riley sounded relieved. "Where are you? Are you okay? I'm sorry-"

"Riley it's not your fault," she assured him, just as Ben had. "Yes, I'm fine, I'm in an SUV with Ian and crew. Dad's here too."

"You're sure you're alright?"

"Yes Ri. And you guys?"

"Yeah, we're fine - but Ben got taken by the FBI."

"What?!" Just like Ben. Riley had always admired the close relationship between the Gates siblings.

"I know." He sighed. "I can't believe we're doing this - it was all Abigail's idea not mine. I need you to put Ian back on the phone."

She handed the phone back to Ian who listened, nodding. "Very well. And you can tell Riley, Doctor Chase, not to worry about Alex. I'll take good care of her." And with that he hung up. Alex stuck her tongue out at him. "What was that about?"

"It seems that your brother was taken by the FBI, and Doctor Chase and Riley were asking my help to get him out of custody. Shaw pull over here, I have another call to make."

* * *

Apparently the call Ian had to make was to Ben, instructing him to meet them in New York the following morning. It seemed to Alex that Ian had cooked up an elaborate plan to help her brother escape. Alex figured she had better cooperate and let herself be dragged around like a hostage until Ben was freed, otherwise Ian may back down on the plan altogether. He had also threatened to destroy the Declaration, and they couldn't have that. That being said, she also wasn't going to make it easy for them.

She and her father stayed in the back of the SUV. It was the next morning in New York and across the street she could see Ian pacing back and forth, the Declaration in his hand. Another car pulled up in front of him and her heart leapt when Ben stepped out. She watched them discuss for a while, before the back door of the SUV opened to reveal her and Patrick. Ben looked horrified. She and her father were then ushered out of the car and down the street to Trinity Church by Ian, Shaw, and Viktor.

"Ben!" she cried, throwing her arms around her brother.

"Al!" He hugged her back.

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," he assured her. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. You?"

"Fine. Dad, you?"

"What do you think? I'm a hostage," Patrick answered bitterly.

"Let them go Ian," Ben ordered.

"When we find the treasure," Ian replied calmly.

"No, now," Ben demanded. "Or you can figure out the clues on your own. Good luck."

"Ben," Ian said, still calm. "I don't think you fully appreciate the gravity of the situation."

As if on cue, the church doors opened and in walked Phil and Powell with Riley and Abigail.

"Al!" Riley and Alex practically tackled each other in a hug. She hugged Abigail as well.

"Look at that," said Ian, sarcasm now lacing his words. "The team's all back together again. How nice."

Ben sighed. This was just getting worse and worse.

"Now, let's have a look at that map, shall we?" Ian slid into one of the pews, the others sitting a few rows behind. Ben reluctantly joined him, unrolling the Declaration and putting on the glasses. The others waited in tense silence while they studied the map. Their voices echoed through the church.

"'Beneath Parkington Lane'," said Ben.

"Why would the map lead us here and then take us somewhere else? It doesn't make any sense," wondered Ian aloud. "What's the purpose?"

"Just another clue," piped up Patrick mockingly.

"Dad," sighed Ben. Then he turned back to Ian. "No, you're right. Parkington Lane has to be here somewhere.

"A street inside the church?" tried Ian.

"No, not inside, beneath," corrected Ben as he began to realize. "Beneath the church. We have to go beneath the church."

 _We're getting close to the treasure! ;) Haha! Thanks so much for reading!_


	18. Keep to the Status Quo

Hello! Welcome back! :)

Chapter Seventeen

Keep to the Status Quo

With that the group headed down to the boiler room of the church. Here, Patrick stopped his children.

"Look," he began softly, checking to make sure their captors weren't paying attention. No, they were too busy searching for 'Parkington Lane'. "Cooperation only lasts as long as the status quo remains unchanged. As soon as this guy gets what he wants he won't need us anymore."

"So we find a way to make sure the status quo changes in our favour," Ben devised.

Patrick nodded. "How?"

"I'm still working on it," Ben admitted.

"Guess I'd better work on it too then."

"Me too," agreed Alex. Then she said, raising her voice. "What is it we're looking for down here Ben?"

"Parkington Lane," he answered.

"Wait, Parkington La - I found it - him!" called Riley. The others rushed over to join him by the wall inlaid with tombs.

"Parkington Lane," Ben read aloud from the tombstone. "He was a third-degree master mason," he gathered from the symbol carved into the grave. "Of the Blue - hey!" He dove out of the way just as Viktor came along with a wrench and started beating away the tombstone. Once it was just crumbled pieces Ben, Ian, Shaw, Powell, and Phil all pulled the coffin from the tomb.

As if on cue, once the coffin was free, the bottom popped open and out spilled the remains of Parkington Lane. Everyone jumped back.

"Careful no one steps in him," joked Powell as they set the coffin down. Then they all crowded around to peer inside the tomb, which extended into a tunnel leading to the unknown.

"Okay." Riley was the first to break the silence. "Who wants to go down the creepy tunnel inside the tomb first? Any volunteers?" he added in a sing-song voice. Always leave it to Riley to lighten a tense situation with one of his sarcastic comments.

"Right. Viktor, McGregor, you stay here," ordered Ian. "And if anyone should come out without me well-" He paused, grinning. "Use your imagination." Then he turned back to the others with a fake smile. "Shall we?" He looked at Alex, stepping aside and giving a sweep of his arm. "Ladies first."

"Oh Ian," she said, stepping forward. "Always the gentleman," she sneered and faced the opening of the tunnel.

"Here." Her brother handed her a small flashlight.

"Thanks." She took it and flicked it on. She could see the faint, delicate outlines of numerous cobwebs up ahead all throughout the tunnel.

"Spiders," she mumbled. "Great. Just great."

Ben came next, then Ian, then Shaw, Patrick, Riley, Abigail, and Powell. At the end of the tunnel there was a step down and then the tunnel widened and continued.

Ben pulled a torch off the wall. "Got a light?" he asked Ian.

Ian pulled a lighter from his pocket and lit the torch. Ben took the lead. Torch in hand he led them down a small set of stairs and under a partially-blocked archway. Ian went through first, followed by Shaw.

"Careful," Ben said as his sister stepped over a fallen board. She gave him a smile which he returned.

Riley came next, walking close behind her, patting Ben on the shoulder. Then came Abigail.

Ben took her arm. "Come here." Riley and Alex watched as Ben pulled her to him in a quick but tender kiss, leaving her smiling.

"Romantic," mumbled Riley sarcastically. Of course Ben would kiss the girl in some tunnel in some tomb while out on a treasure hunt.

The group then went down another staircase, longer this time.

"What's this?" came Ian's voice from ahead. Ben came closer, the light from his torch showing them a great wooden structure spiraling down before them.

"It's a chandelier," Ben realized aloud. He reached out and touched his torch to the hanging part in the middle, it immediately igniting. Then, with Riley's help, they lowered it into the middle using the ropes and pulley system which hadn't been used for hundreds of years, but it still worked remarkably well.

With more light now, everyone was able to see the intricate combination of wooden platforms and staircases leading down to the unknown. Whatever it led to was too far down to see from up where they stood.

"Look at the elevators," remarked Ben in awe.

"It's a dumbwaiter system," concluded Patrick.

"How did a bunch of guys with hand tools build all this?" Powell wondered aloud.

"Same way they built the pyramids, and the Great Wall of China," Ben answered.

"Yeah, the aliens helped them," added Riley.

"Right, let's go." Ian turned to continue on. "What are we waiting for?"

"I'm not going out on that thing," stated Patrick firmly. He was standing at the front of the group. "Two-hundred years of termite damage and rot." He shook his head in emphasis.

"Dad, do what he says," pleaded Ben. Alex nodded in agreement.

Looking conflicted, Patrick gave in and began walking down the rotting stairs - he really had no choice. One board cracked beneath his foot and he quickly drew back. Everyone froze. "Watch your step," he said and gingerly continued on. The rest of the group cautiously followed him.

As they were cautiously making their way down the stairs, a sudden rumbling overhead caused them all to freeze.

"Subway," said Ian.

Then suddenly, without any warning, there was an echoing _crack!_ followed by a scream. The whole group watched in horror as Shaw fell through the floorboards and plunged down into the pit.

 _Yikes! We all know what happens next! As always, thanks so much for reading! :)_


	19. Trapped!

Hello! Starting up again right where we left off - the cliffhanger!

Chapter Eighteen

Trapped!

Shaw's fall had a domino effect. With that, the whole platform they were on began to crumble beneath their feet.

Acting quick, Riley sprang off the breaking platform to one that was more secure.

"Al!" he cried, once he was safe, holding out his arms for her to jump.

She was about to when the platform gave way further, she and Ben falling with it, she dangling over the edge. Patrick shouted at Ian and Powell from where they were now on an elevator above to do something to help them, his son and daughter.

The broken platform was rocking, brother and sister clinging to each other's hands for dear life. "Abigail go," Ben said, and she followed Riley, jumping to the more secure area.

"Ben!" Alex suddenly cried. That was when he noticed the Declaration balancing on the edge, threatening to fall down into the pit, the source of her new panic. "The Declaration!" she cried.

"Do you trust me?" he asked, thinking quick.

"Of course!"

So as the platform rocked again and she dangled over a ledge below, he let go, and she fell, twisting to land on her side. A sharp pain shot through her arm and up her shoulder when she landed, but she didn't have time to worry. Instead, she scrambled to her feet just in time to see Ben as he snatched up the Declaration, putting it over his shoulder where it was safe. She gave a huge sigh of relief.

Her relief was short-lived though for, seconds later, the already rickety platform gave way even further, leaving Ben hanging off of it, dangling over the pit.

"Oh no - BEN!" she hollered, desperately wishing there was some way she could help her brother. All she could do was watch in horror as he might suffer the same fate as Shaw.

Ben clung to the rotting wood, which was breaking beneath his weight. Suddenly, just as it seemed all hope was lost, a rope dropped down before him.

"Son!" called Patrick, who was holding onto the other end of the rope. Ben grabbed hold of it and swung down to the ledge to join his sister.

"I'm sorry," he cried, rushing to her side, feeling immense guilt when he saw her gripping her injured shoulder. "I'm sorry I dropped you, I had to save the Declaration."

She smiled. "Don't be, I would have done exactly the same to you."

"Really?"

"Yeah." They shared a tight embrace.

"I would have dropped you both, freaks," called Riley as he and Abigail made their way down the stairs towards them. "Just leave it to the Gates siblings to almost die in the name of history."

The four stood and waited while Powell lowered the elevator to them. There was a tense silence.

"Get on," Ian ordered.

"Ian, it's not worth it," sighed Ben.

"Do you imagine that any of your lives are more valuable to me than Shaw's?" Ian snapped. "We go on."

"Status quo, keep to the status quo," Patrick reminded them.

When Ben still didn't budge, Ian sighed heavily and grabbed Patrick by the collar of his jacket, holding him near the edge of the elevator, threatening to push him over the edge and down into the pit.

Alex shrieked and Ben shouted, "No! Okay, we're coming, we're coming!" They stepped onto the elevator, Ian finally releasing the now very shaken Patrick.

Alex rushed to her father's side, asking him if he was alright. Then she turned to Ian, looking murderous. "You son of a-" But Riley held her back.

Powell began to lower them and they rode the rest of the way down in silence. Finally, they reached their destination.

"This is where it leads," Ben announced.

They all stepped off the elevator and onto the platform where it led - stone, they were glad to notice, not wood. They passed under an archway and into a round, empty room. All there was were some symbols painted and carved into the walls, a lantern hanging from the ceiling, and lots of dust and cobwebs. Alex shuddered. More spiders.

"Well?" pressed Ian.

"This is it?" scoffed Riley, echoing everyone's thoughts. "We came all this way for a dead end?!"

Ben looked crushed. "Yes."

"B-but, there's gotta be something more," Riley said, beginning to ramble. "Another clue or-"

"No there are no more clues! That's it, okay, the end of the road. The treasure's gone, can't you see?! It's gone, taken somewhere else." Ben was yelling now.

"You're not playing games with me, are you Ben?" demanded Ian. He regarded Ben. "You know where it is."

"No."

Ian had had enough. "Okay, go," he said to Powell, hurrying him back towards the elevator.

"Hey, wait-" This wasn't looking good. The others ran to catch up. He was going to leave them.

"Wait - stop!"

"Hey wait a minute!"

"You can't just leave us here!"

"We'll be trapped!"

"Exactly." Ian had now reached the elevator. "Unless Ben tells me the next clue."

"There is no other clue!" insisted Ben.

"Ian, listen," began Riley frantically. "Why don't you come back down here and we can talk through this together -" He was cut off when Ian suddenly withdrew Powell's gun and pointed it right at him, causing everyone, especially Riley, to jump.

"Don't speak again," Ian ordered.

"O-okay..." He'd never been held at gunpoint before, but now this week it had happened twice.

Ian turned back to Ben, moving the gun from Riley to him. "The clue Ben."

Ben remained silent. Ian gave him a moment before raising the gun level with his head.

"The lantern!" cried Patrick suddenly, as though it had just dawned on him.

"Dad," cried Ben. "Don't."

"The status quo has changed Son," Patrick said solemnly. He didn't want to do it, but they had no choice. He turned back to Ian. "It's a part of Freemason teachings. In King Solomon's temple there was a winding staircase that signified the journey that had to be made to find the light of truth. The lantern is the clue," he finished, gesturing to the lantern hanging above them.

"And, what does it mean?" Ian pressed.

"Boston," sighed Ben. "It's Boston."

"Old North Church," said Alex, catching on.

"Yes," said her father. "Where Thomas Newton hug a lantern in the steeple to signal Paul Revere that the British were coming. One if by land, two if by sea. One lantern, under the winding staircase of the steeple. That's where we have to look," he finished.

Ian lowered the gun, looking satisfied. "Thank you." He turned to leave.

"W-wait!" cried Patrick. "You have to take us with you."

"What, so you can escape in Boston?" Ian scoffed. "I don't think so."

"Well what if we lied?" questioned Patrick.

Ian raised the gun again, now pointing it at him. "Did you?"

Ben jumped in. "What if there's another clue?"

"Then I'll know right where to find you." With that, Ian nodded to Powell who began turning the leaver on the elevator, raising them back up.

"No!"

"Wait!"

"Come back!"

"You need us Ian!" But they were gone.

"We're gonna die," said Riley.

"It's going to be okay Riley," Ben assured him, heading back into the chamber, the others following. "And I'm sorry I yelled at you." He, his father, and sister began to move quickly about the small space.

"Okay guys what's going on?" questioned Abigail as she and Riley followed them. "The British came by sea, it was two lanterns, not one."

"Ian needed other clue," said Alex.

"So we gave him one," finished her brother.

"It was a fake," said Riley, realizing their scheme. "It was a fake clue." His face fell then with another realization. "That means, by the time Ian figures it out and comes back here, we'll still be trapped and he'll shoot us then, and he'll be even more angry. Either way we're going to die."

"No one's going to die Ri," Alex reassured him.

"She's right, cause there's another way out," said Ben, a mischievous grin forming on his lips.

"Where?" Now Riley looked confused.

Ben was smiling fully now. "Through the treasure room."

 _Another cliffhanger - kind of! ;) Haha hope you enjoyed! Part of this scene was inspired by the extended version of the tunnel scene on the National Treasure DVD :) And thank you so much for reading!_


	20. The Treasure of All Treasures

Hello! Welcome back! We're almost at the end...

Chapter Nineteen

The Treasure of All Treasures

"Looks like someone got here first," said Riley quietly. Well that had been anticlimactic.

"I-it's gone," cried Ben in disbelief. He sounded wounded.

"Oh Ben," said Alex. "I'm so sorry."

The room which they had entered was bigger than the first, and less empty, but there was still no treasure, nor sign of it.

"It may have even been gone before Charles Carroll told the story to Thomas Gates," Ben mumbled.

"Listen Ben, it doesn't matter," Patrick comforted.

"You were right," Ben told his father.

"No," Patrick corrected him firmly. "No I wasn't right. This room is real, which means the treasure is real, wherever it might be. We're in the company of some of the greatest minds in history because you found what they left behind for us to find, and understood them. You did it, for all of us, for your grandfather, all of us. And I've never been so proud to be proven so wrong," he added.

Alex couldn't help but smile at her father's words. "He's right Ben."

But Ben still looked distraught, and understandably. "I just really thought that... That I was going to find it."

"Okay then," said Patrick. "Then we'll just keep looking."

"I'm in," said Alex.

"Me too," added Abigail supportively.

"Not to be Johnny Rain Cloud here, but that's not going to happen, because in case you've forgotten, we're still stuck down here," said Riley. "You were saying Ben? Where's this other way out?"

"That's why it doesn't make any sense because the first thing the builders would have done after getting down here would have been to cut a secondary shaft for air, and in case of cave-ins," Ben explained, once again sounding thoughtful, hopeful.

"Right," said Patrick, he, Ben, and Alex beginning to search for any sign of this second shaft. Riley and Abigail quickly joined in and the whole group scanned the room.

Ben found some metal designs inlaid in the walls, all with different symbols carved into their faces. One however, had a cut-out. He traced the strange shape with his fingers, and then suddenly it all clicked. Hands shaking now, he reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew the pipe from the _Charlotte_. He turned it upside down; the shape matched that of the cut-out. "Could it really be that simple?" he muttered. _The Secret Lies With Charlotte_. Taking a deep breath he placed the pipe into the cut-out. It was a perfect fit.

Then, taking the stem of the pipe, he put it in the small hole below the cut-out. The pipe slid in, locking into place. He turned it. A lock and key. The pipe had really been a key.

There was a click, followed by a rumble, and like before the wall pressed inward, a hidden door revealed. This door opened on its own without being pushed, as if beckoning them inside.

Patrick was the first to go through. The other's heard his gasp, this prompting them to follow. They joined him frozen in the doorway, beholding the sight before them.

They were standing at the entrance to a wide, tall room full of the most intricate and incredible variety of treasure imaginable. There were ancient documents, statues, jewels and jewellery, as well as many others. The whole room seemed aglow.

 _It really is the treasure of all treasures_ , thought Alex.

There was a rumble then as Ben touched his torch to an intricate line of troughs holding flammable powder. Everyone's eyes grew even wider as the new light provided them the opportunity to see the entire room - it stretched back farther than they had realized, completely full of treasure. There was stunned silence.

"Yes!" cheered Patrick, the first to break it, hugging his children.

Alex let out a whoop and threw her arms around her brother. "We did it Big Brother, we did it!" Then she added more softly, "Grandpa would be so proud." She heard Ben chuckle at this, sounding choked-up.

"Proud to be a Gates," he whispered.

"Proud to be a Gates," she agreed.

Next she hugged Riley and Abigail as well. When hugging Riley, she noticed his watery eyes. "Ri, are you crying?"

"Look," he said, nodding to the far wall of the room. "Stairs."

It was true; up ahead, barely visible but there, was a rickety old staircase leading out of the vast treasure room. Alex couldn't help but laugh and planted a kiss on his cheek. Oh Riley. Then, giggling, she scurried down the stairs leading further into the room. "Well come on!" she called over her shoulder. "There's thousands of years of world history down here just waiting to be discovered!"

* * *

Back up in the main hall of the church, Ben chatted softly with Agent Sadusky of the FBI. When they'd come out of the tunnel leading out of the treasure room, up the old staircase which led out also through a tomb, they had found a very confused and equally startled security guard inspecting Parkington Lane's disrupted tomb. Ben had asked if he had a cell phone he could borrow, and had immediately called the FBI.

Patrick, Alex, Riley, and Abigail sat in the pews waiting, still jittery from their discovery downstairs, while Ben and Sadusky discussed what to do now that the treasure had been found.

"Divide it amongst the Smithsonian, the Louvre, the British Museum, the Cairo Museum," she heard her brother say. "There's thousands of years of world history down there, and it belongs to everyone. Everyone deserves the chance to see it."

Sadusky nodded. "And what do you want?"

"I want the credit of the find to go to the entire Gates family," Ben said, raising his voice so the others could hear. "With the assistance of Mr. Riley Poole." Riley and Alex exchanged a smile and she squeezed his hand. "And I want Doctor Chase to get off completely clean, not even a post-it note on her record."

"And you?"

"I'd really love not to go to prison."

The agent chuckled. "Someone's got to go to prison Ben."

"Well, if you happen to have a helicopter handy, we could help with that."

* * *

"Mr. Howe, you're under arrest," Sadusky announced as he emerged from the crowd of agents who had caught Ian and crew in the middle of attempting to break into the Old North Church in Boston. A couple of agents handcuffed Ian's hands behind his back. "We've got you on kidnapping, attempted murder, and trespassing on government property. Anything else?" he asked the Gates siblings, who were emerging behind him. Ian scoffed when he saw them.

"Nope, that's it," said Ben. "We'll let you know if we think of anything else."

Ian smirked. Then he turned to Alex. "Wait for me?"

"Yeah right." They watched as he was loaded into the back of one of the cars. "Besides, he's not getting out of prison anytime soon."

"No he's not," said Ben triumphantly, putting an arm around his sister.

 _Yay, the moment we've all been waiting for! ;) Discovering the treasure! Almost done, just one last chapter to wrap things up! Hope you enjoyed and as always, thanks so much for reading!_


	21. Epilogue

Hello, here's the last chapter! Hope you enjoy!

Epilogue

"You would have loved it Grandpa." The siblings stood in the cemetery before their grandfather's grave. They had just finished recalling their adventure finding the treasure.

"Yeah," said Ben. "We sure wish you could have seen it." He smiled and then turned to his sister. "You know, when we finally made it and were standing there in the treasure room, it kind of felt as though he was there, celebrating with us."

She smiled too. "Yeah, I felt that too." She kissed her fingertips and touched them to the gravestone. "Love you Grandpa. Proud to be a Gates."

"Proud to be a Gates," Ben agreed.

* * *

"Ten percent Ben," Riley sighed with a shake of his head. "They offered you ten percent and you turned it down." He, Ben, and Abigail were wandering the front yard of Ben and Abi's grand new property.

"Riley we've been over this," said Ben. "It was far too much, I couldn't accept it."

"You know I actually still have this splinter that's festering from an old piece of wood," Riley said, showing them his finger. "Yeah, but what do you care? You got the girl."

"It's true," Abigail said, she and Ben sharing a kiss.

"You could too," Ben told his friend. "Just ask my sister out already."

"Big news guys," said Alex, rejoining the group from taking a call. "They want us in Cairo next week for the opening of the exhibit," she announced. "They're sending a private jet."

"Ooo," said Ben.

"That's fun," agreed Abigail.

"Yeah, big whoop," said Riley sarcastically. "We could have had a whole fleet of private jets." He looked directly at Ben when he said this, it only further emphasizing his earlier point.

"Complaining again?" giggled Alex.

"Okay I'll tell you what," said Ben, stopping and facing his friend. "Next time we find a treasure that redefines history for all mankind, you make the call on the finder's fee.

"This guy's funny. Rub it in, enjoy your spoils, while I sit on one percent-" Riley turned away from them and hopped into his brand new, shining red Ferrari. Ben and Abigail got a house, he got a car. "One stinkin' percent, half of one percent actually. Unbelievable."

Ben chuckled and shook his head. "I'm sorry for your suffering Riley."

Riley turned to Alex. "Want a ride?"

"Do I ever!" She jumped into the passenger seat beside him.

"By the way Ben-" Riley put on his sunglasses. "I like the house."

"You know I chose this estate," Ben began. "Because in 1812 Charles Carroll-"

"Yeah did something in history and had fun," Riley cut in. "Right, right. Could've had a bigger house." With that, he started the car and took off.

"So, where to?" he asked.

"Hmm, let's see..." She thought for a moment.

"No more museums, or churches, or galleries," he pleaded.

This made her laugh. Oh Riley. "Alright, how about a movie then, and then dinner?"

Riley grinned. "Sounds perfect."

 _And that's it! The first story I've posted on here that I've finished! Yay! ;) So that's it, the end of 'Treasure Hunters'. I hope you enjoyed, thanks so much for sticking with me throughout this story, it means so much to me! And there will be a sequel coming soon, so stay tuned! Once again, thanks so much guys! Until next time!_

 _Coming soon: 'Treasure Hunters: Book of Secrets'_


End file.
